Politicians demand phone hacking answers from Piers Morgan
The Labour party has claimed that former editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan has questions to answer over claims of phone hacking at the newspaper.
Morgan, currently a present on CNN, has repeatedly denied accusations that he has had any involvement in allaged phone hacking practices, with the latest claim being made by Heather Mills on Newsnight.
Harriot Harman, deputy leader of the Labour Party told Sky News, in referring to Morgan, that ‘He’s got to answer now’ questions over his knowledge of phone hacking during his time at the newspaper after Mills claimed that a senior Mirror Group journalist told her that she had her phone messages had been targeted.
Tory MP Therese Coffey has also called on Morgan to explain his previous comments about phone hacking.
"I just hope that the police take the evidence and go with it and if Mr Morgan wants to come back to the UK and help them with their inquiries, and I don't mean being arrested in any way, I'm sure he can add more light," Coffey told the BBC.
"I think it would help everybody, including himself and this investigation, if he was able to say more about why he wrote what he did in 2006," she said.
Since Mills made the accusation, Morgan has released a statement through CNN, which read: "Heather Mills has made unsubstantiated claims about a conversation she may or may not have had with a senior executive from a Trinity Mirror newspaper in 2001.
"The BBC has confirmed to me that this executive was not employed by the Daily Mirror. I have no knowledge of any conversation any executive from other newspapers at Trinity Mirror may or may not have had with Heather Mills.
"What I can say and have knowledge of is that Sir Paul McCartney asserted that Heather Mills illegally intercepted his telephones, and leaked confidential material to the media. This is well documented, and was stated in their divorce case.
"To reiterate, I have never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, nor to my knowledge published any story obtained from the hacking of a phone," the statement added.
A Trinity Mirror spokesman said on Wednesday evening: "Our position is clear. All our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC code of conduct."