Friday, January 28, 2011

Former Labour chief whip makes phone-hacking claim

Nick Brown says he became suspicious his landline calls were being monitored after conversation with prominent person

Nick Brown, the former Labour chief whip and a close ally of Gordon Brown, said today he believed his phone had been hacked. He told the Newcastle Journal the police had warned him several years ago his mobile phone might have been illegally accessed.

Brown said he became suspicious his landline calls were being monitored after a phone conversation with a prominent person. "I picked up a landline telephone very quickly ? to make another call straight away," he said. "The line clicked and then I heard my last conversation played back to me, which was quite eerie."

Brown said he contacted BT, which said his line "showed every sign of being intercepted manually". Brown said: "It was an amateurish attempt involving the physical intervention of the line with a recording device."

In the Guardian the shadow culture secretary, Ivan Lewis, likens the hacking to the seismic moment of the MPs' expenses scandal: "The dramatic events of the past few days should similarly be a catalyst for serious debate not only about the conduct of News International but the power and the responsibility of the media.

"A healthy democracy depends on the professionalism and integrity of the vast majority of journalists, editors, executives and proprietors [and]on the courage of politicians to stand up for the public interest free from undue pressure or fear of reprisal."


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/28/labour-whip-phone-hacking-claim

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