Nicholas Watt reports:
British democracy risks becoming a “laughing stock” around the world unless allegations about phone hacking on behalf of the News of the World are fully investigated, a former Labour minister warned today.
Tom Watson, a member of the Commons culture select committee, issued a point-by-point rebuttal of arguments by ministers and News International dismissing calls for a judicial inquiry.
The former parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office was speaking in the Commons after forcing the home secretary, Theresa May, to answer an urgent parliamentary question about further allegations in the New York Times.
Read more in The Guardian, who earlier today, reported that the investigation was halted to avoid embarrassing the police.