Judge gets wide powers for hacking scandal inquiry

(BBC): The judge leading the phone hacking inquiry will have powers to call media proprietors, editors and politicians to give evidence under oath, the PM said. Lord Justice Leveson will oversee the public inquiry into the News of the World scandal and media regulation. David Cameron said those who sanctioned wrongdoing should have no further role in running a media company in the UK. And he told MPs parent company News Corp should stop thinking about taking over BSkyB and sort out the mess.

In a statement to the Commons, he said the inquiry would begin as "quickly as possible" and would be in two parts – an investigation of wrongdoing in the press and the police and a review of regulation in the press.

He said Lord Justice Leveson, assisted by a panel of senior independent figures, would make recommendations for a better way of regulating the press which "supports their freedom, plurality and independence from government but which also demands the highest ethical and professional standards". He will also make recommendations about the future conduct of relations between politicians and the press.

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