No plans to call in Piers Morgan, committee chairman says

 

Mr Morgan, who was the Mirror's editor from 1995 to 2004, now presents a show on CNN in the US

MPs on the culture select committee say they have no plans to call ex-Mirror editor Piers Morgan or Mirror Group executives to face questions over Heather Mills' phone-hacking claims.

On Wednesday, Ms Mills alleged a senior Mirror Group journalist had admitted hacking voicemails left for her by her then-boyfriend Sir Paul McCartney.
Earlier, a Tory MP urged Mr Morgan to return to the UK to answer questions.
Mr Morgan has issued a statement denying any involvement in hacking.
The parent group of Mirror Group Newspapers, Trinity Mirror plc, says all its journalists work within the law.
The journalist referred to by Ms Mills is known not to be Mr Morgan.
The select committee's chairman John Whittingdale said MPs were focusing on whether it had been misled by previous witnesses from News International.
He told the BBC the committee "did not have the power to compel people who are not in the UK" to return to the country, but he imagined "there will be some questions which will be put to [Mr Morgan], possibly by the police, on the basis of the evidence that has emerged".
Tory MP Therese Coffey, a member of the culture, media and sport select committee which is also investigating phone hacking, said she felt Ms Mills' allegations were "very strong" and she "didn't see any point in [Mr Morgan] necessarily just staying in the US and issuing statements".
She said Mr Morgan needed to explain an article in 2006 in which he admitted having listened to a recorded message.
"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," she said.
'Quoting verbatim'

 

Heather Mills was married to Sir Paul McCartney from 2002 to 2008

 

Ms Coffey also said Ms Mills should have reported the incident to the police at the time.
Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman has also told Sky News Mr Morgan has "questions to answer" over the claims, while Labour MP Jim Sheridan said it would be "helpful if he could clear up these allegations".
On Wednesday, Ms Mills told BBC Newsnight that in early 2001 she had had a row with former Beatle Sir Paul, who later left a conciliatory message on her voicemail while she was away in India.
According to Ms Mills, afterwards a senior journalist from Mirror Group Newspapers rang her and "started quoting verbatim the messages from my machine".
Ms Mills said she challenged the journalist about phone hacking, and they responded: "OK, OK, yeah we did hear it on your voice messages, I won't run it."
The message in question appears to be the same as one which Mr Morgan admitted to having listened to in a Daily Mail article in 2006.

Culture Select Committee member Jim Sheridan: "It would be helpful if he could clear up these allegations"

If Ms Mills' recollection is correct, the call Mr Morgan listened to had been hacked, and a fellow Mirror Group Newspapers journalist had tried to use it to get a story.
Mr Morgan, the Mirror's editor between 1995 and 2004 - and who also edited the News of the World between January 1994 and November 1995 - has consistently denied sanctioning any phone hacking.
In a statement issued through CNN on Wednesday, Mr Morgan said: "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.
"I have no knowledge of any conversation any executive from other newspapers at Trinity Mirror may or may not have had with Heather Mills.
"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."
Mirror Group Newspapers is part of Trinity Mirror plc, which publishes over 260 titles including the Daily and Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and People.
Trinity Mirror responded to the allegation by saying: "Our position is clear. All our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC [Press Complaints Commission] code of conduct."
Paul Connew, a former editor of the Sunday Mirror and a former deputy editor of the Daily Mirror, said he does not believe Mr Morgan was involved in hacking, but he could help the inquiry.
"Obviously Piers does need to answer how he came to hear the messages, he wrote about that himself in the Daily Mail.
"But at the same time, you know, he's not being accused of doing the hacking so, yes, at some point I'm sure as a senior media figure and former editor he will be asked to appear before the judicial inquiry, the Leveson Inquiry, but he probably doesn't feel he's under any obligation to head back here unless summoned to do so," he said.
Editorial review Newsnight has also learned that many other prominent people, including footballer Rio Ferdinand and TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson, also believe they were hacked by the Mirror group.
A former business journalist at the Daily Mirror has alleged that phone hacking was an accepted technique for getting stories, at the time Ms Mills says her phone was hacked.
The allegations made by James Hipwell, who has served time in prison for writing about companies whose shares he owned, were dismissed by a Trinity Mirror spokesman as "totally unsubstantiated".
Meanwhile, Mark Lewis, the solicitor acting for murdered Milly Dowler's family, has urged journalists to publicly admit phone hacking was rife across the newspaper industry.
Mr Lewis said he had been contacted by several reporters who claimed the practice took place at their offices.
Conservative MP Louise Mensch, who sits on the Commons culture, media and sport committee, has tweeted that she thinks an amnesty would be a good idea. She has also called for "a massive industry fund" to compensate hacking and blagging victims.
So far, most of the revelations surrounding phone hacking have centred on the News of the World, which was published by News Group Newspapers, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, until the paper's closure last month.
The prime minister has launched a judge-led inquiry into phone hacking and the ethics of the press.
Last week, Trinity Mirror announced it was to review its editorial "controls and procedures" but said this was being conducted "in light of the current environment" rather than because of a specific allegation.