Three premiers, one First Minister, talk to Leveson inquiry this week
A big week ahead before the Leveson inquiry: Prime Minister David Cameron will testify on Thursday, the inquiry said on its website yesterday.
Murdoch: Cameron faces quiz
Former PM Gordon Brown and Chancellor George Osborne will testify on tomorrow , with another ex-premier, John Major, appearing on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday: Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and his deputy, Harriet Harman.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and Nick Clegg appear on Wednesday.
The probe, led by Judge Brian Leveson, has already heard from Brown's predecessor, Tony Blair, and serving Cabinet ministers about their links with the press.
Opposition accusations that Cameron and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt were biased toward News International's bid for British Sky Broadcasting is helping drain support for Cameron, according to Bloomberg.
Cameron, 45, set up the inquiry last year after revelations about widespread phone hacking forced Rupert Murdoch to close the News of the World, then Britain's biggest paper. He has denied claims he sought Murdoch's backing before coming to power in return for favourable treatment of the company and its £7.8 billion bid for full control of BSkyB once he'd taken office.
Cameron said in the Commons on April 29,"Was there some big deal, some big agreement between me and Rupert Murdoch or James Murdoch that, in return for the support for the Conservative Party, I would somehow help their business interests or allow this merger to go through? That is not true.
"I never had any inappropriate conversations with anyone about this."