Standards Committee to probe phone-hacking row

The Commons' most powerful committee will investigate the News of the World phone hacking row, MPs decided today.

The cross-party Committee on Standards and Privileges will investigate whether MPs' phones were targeted, something Labour MP Chris Bryant claimed amounted to "contempt of Parliament".

MPs backed Mr Bryant's call for the matter to be referred to the committee after he urged them not to be "supine" in the face of allegations that their phones were hacked.

Mr Bryant (Rhondda) told the Commons he was one of the MPs who had contacted the Metropolitan Police and been told that he was on a list of those allegedly targeted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

But he said he suspected that was the "tip of the iceberg" and hacking extended not just to Labour MPs but also to Liberal Democrats and Tories. He said that hacking into MPs' phones was "a contempt of Parliament, a severe breach of parliamentary privilege".

The row centres on the period when Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson edited the Sunday tabloid newspaper, although Mr Bryant insisted that his call for the committee to investigate was "not about one man".

Mr Bryant's call was backed by both front benches.