Murdochs to face Commons committee
Rupert Murdoch and his son James will appear before a House of Commons select committee next week to give evidence on the phone hacking scandal that has engulfed News International’s newspapers.
The Murdochs will join Rebekah Brooks as she faces the department of culture, media and sport committee next Tuesday, 19 July.
The decision is a dramatic U-turn by the Murdochs, who earlier declined to attend the committee until parliament took the unusual step of serving them with a summons.
Parliamentary leaders, including prime minister David Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg, added further pressure on the father and son to attend.
The three News Corp executives will be grilled by MPs that have fought hard to expose the phone hacking scandal, including Labour MPs Tom Watson and Chris Bryant.
They will be asked to clarify evidence formerly given to the committee in which they denied that the practice was widespread at the News of the World, blaming a rogue reporter for the hacking previously unearthed.