No Plans To Call Piers Morgan, Says Committee Chairman

Piers Morgan

Huffington Post UK   Dina Rickman First Posted: 04/08/11 00:17 Updated: 03/10/11 11:12

John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, has told the BBC that he has "no plans to call Piers Morgan or any Mirror Group executives", following allegations from Heather Mills that the newspaper hacked her mobile phone.

Earlier today, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman has added her voice to the growing controversy surrounding Mr. Morgan, telling Sky News he has “questions to answer” over claims that a journalist from the Mirror hacked the mobile phone of Heather Mills.

She said: "Heather Mills directly said that someone called her up and said they had heard a tape of a phone message Paul McCartney has left for her. Subsequently in a Daily Mail article, Morgan said he heard a heartbreaking phone message, which clearly gives rise to the assumption he'd heard a tape recorded message.

"It’s not good enough for him to say ‘I’ve always complied with the law and the PCC code of conduct.' He’s got to answer - it’s no good people chanting a mantra ‘I’ve always obeyed the law’."

Yesterday, one of the MPs on the parliamentary committee looking into phone hacking called for Piers Morgan to come back to Britain to help police investigating the scandal.

Hours after new allegations from Sir Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills that a senior journalist from a Mirror group newspaper had admitted to her they had hacked into her phone messages, Therese Coffey said:

“I don’t see any point in him [Morgan] necessarily just staying in the USA issuing statements. I think it would help everybody, including himself and this investigation, if he was able to say more about why he wrote what he did in 2006.”

She told the BBC’s Newsnight programme on Wednesday evening: “If Mr Morgan wants to come back to the UK and help them [police] with their inquiries – I don’t mean being arrested in any way – but I’m sure that he can add more light onto that very article that he wrote in 2006.”

Coffey was referring to an article Morgan wrote five years ago where he appears to describe listening to a voice message left for Heather Mills by Sir Paul McCartney.

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John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, has told the BBC that he has "no plans to call Piers Morgan or any Mirror Group executives", following allegations from Heather Mills ...
John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, has told the BBC that he has "no plans to call Piers Morgan or any Mirror Group executives", following allegations from Heather Mills ...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
p456
Walking Tall.
15:51 on 09/08/2011
I always suspected him of being a crook.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
REMEMBER2050
Socialism for the rich; capitalism for the poor.
14:38 on 09/08/2011
Hey, wait a minute! You Brits send him over to the U.S. where he replaces the ultimate fluff interviewer with more fluff by interviewing the most boring people I've ever heard of and NOW you want him back? For phone tapping Heather Mills? How common, if not degrading.

Too good to be true. I can't remember how long he's been on the air here, but I'm betting he's wasted less than 80 hours of each viewer's time (viewers meaning all those too lazy to change the channel, so while we're probably talking tens of millions of Americans, it could have been a lot worse.) So have at it! If you take him quick we won't even need to buy a going-away card.
16:05 on 05/08/2011
The link to this says Piers being urged to come back. Shows the 180-degree nature of Whittingdale's U-turn. It was Macca wot dun it. An it wuz the Slog wot got Macca off izz bum
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/hackgate-day-205-slog-vindicated-as-mccartney-agrees-to-talk-to-police/
13:12 on 05/08/2011
Put Piers Moron under pressure, and he'll crack like an egg.
09:25 on 05/08/2011
Change of mind overnight by Whittingdale....and CNN drops new Piers Morgan show....
#Morgan's new show shelved by #CNN
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/08/05/flash-piers-morgans-new-cnn-show-shelved/
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vikramnet
between despair and hope lays but one small step
07:28 on 05/08/2011
That Piers Morgan was up to his neck in this there is little doubt. He even went so far as to admit his knowledge of phone hacking at a time he thought he was safe to do so. He boasted things revealed by the practice just to show how exceptional he was. If he goes back to face questions he'll be putting himself in a very ill-timed spotlight. Personally, I think there's every chance he'll cry 'foul' and stay in the US because he's so detested in Britain.

And if he did refuse a summons it'd be such Greek theatre. To have him extradited in handcuffs would be irresistible moral justice for both sides of the Atlantic.
21:26 on 04/08/2011
Sir Paul himself holds the key to this. He knows what happened in these and other instances. It is his duty as a British citizen to come forward....
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/6194/
16:49 on 04/08/2011
Remember where Morgan learned his tradecraft, at News International as editor of The Sun's Bizarre column. He narrowly avoided prosecution over the puffing of Viglen shares to his considerable benefit, whilst editor of the Daily Mirror. This oily creep is overdue for his come-uppance let's hope he doesn't slip away from this.,
04:48 on 04/08/2011
Good riddance!
04:24 on 04/08/2011
I agree, Piers Morgan should go back to Britain.
16:56 on 04/08/2011
A better idea, give him to Australia, in return for them giving us Rupert.
13:12 on 05/08/2011
I have a better idea.

Britain and America should reach a middle ground on Piers Moron.

The Atlantic Ocean
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
REMEMBER2050
Socialism for the rich; capitalism for the poor.
14:41 on 09/08/2011
Wait a minute! Many of us in the U.S. would be happy to send him back. That last thing we need is more non-news--we already have entire stations devoted to that and enough ignorant Americans that we can dwarf the British population with their headcount alone. I'm not sure the Atlantic's far enough.
03:24 on 04/08/2011
Morgan has no answers for his accusers, he's only tried to shift the spotlight from himself to them. That's not a rebuttal. It's clear he was in on some of it.
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bascombe
Send the kids off to die, bleed their country dry.
02:29 on 04/08/2011
maybe the brits aren't as corrupt as the americans. maybe...
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mediumal57
Moderate Extremist
19:52 on 04/08/2011
Ha! Do I detect a bit of irony here bascombe. Thought you lot didn't undertand the concept of irony.

As for we British - corrupt? I think you'll find that concept well and trulyunderstood and established here. Several policemen to my knowledge have been arrested on serious misconduct charges this week alone - a Sean Price, the Chief Constable of Cleveland Police having astonishly been one of those detained yesterday in fact. So you see corruption appears rife, even in an institution that many of you Yanks I've heard feel is somewhat beyond reproach - The honest British Bobby? Scandal unfortunately clings to all our intitutions, (Politicians, Police the Press) at the moment. We are about to experience our "Watergate" with the phone hacking saga still rumbling on in the next few weeks I feel.
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bascombe
Send the kids off to die, bleed their country dry.
02:28 on 05/08/2011
you'll notice that the media here in the US is ignoring the fox scandals as if murdock own all of it. and the justice department is more concerned with arresting people for pot. too bad murdock doesn't have a joint they can arrest him for.
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Gavin Saunders
we only have each other
01:39 on 04/08/2011
How did that letter Muckmurdoch sent stating he would not be attending the parliamentary hearing go again?