London mayor says relationship between John Yates and Neil Wallis raises questions but refuses to be drawn on whether David Cameron should resign

London mayor Boris Johnson has refused to be drawn on whether David Cameron should resign over the appointment of Andy Coulson, following the departure of Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates after the discovery that Coulson's former deputy Neil Wallis was employed by the Met.

At a press conference following the resignation of the Met assistant commissioner Yates, Johnson said: "I'm not here to discuss government appointments, I'm here to talk about events in the Metropolitan police service. Those questions you must direct to government."

Pressed on the fact that the prime minister's decision to call a public inquiry did put him in charge, Johnson retorted uneasily: "This is a matter you must frankly direct to Number 10 Downing Street, and I suggest you ask them."

The London mayor insisted five days ago that Yates should remain in the assistant commissioner post to continue his valuable work in counter-terrorism.

Asked what Yates had done wrong since to warrant his sudden departure, Johnson admitted he didn't know the exact details that led to Yates' suspension by the MPA's sub committee because "I wasn't there".

But he said more questions had been asked about the relationship about John Yates and Neil Wallis which the MPA felt needed to be looked into.

He confirmed that the deputy commissioner, Tim Godwin, would run Scotland Yard until Stephenson's replacement is appointed.

"Whatever mistakes may have been made at any level in the police service, now is the time to clear them up," said Johnson. "Now is the time to get to the bottom of all these questions and give a new commissioner plenty of time to get his or her feet under the desk, build on the outstanding work of these two men and make London ever safer in the run-up to the Olympic Games."

Johnson denied that there had been a failure of political leadership over the affair pointing out that the original investigation began in 2006 – two years before he ousted Ken Livingston to be elected London mayor.

He said the "64 million dollar question" was whether the relationship between the Met and Neil Wallis deterred the police from investigating things properly in the first place. "I have absolutely no reason to think … that was the case, but that's why we need to establish these inquiries."

He denied that he had exercised poor judgement both in previously claiming that the allegations that surfaced in the Guardian and the New York Times in 2009 were "codswallop" and a "political put-up job" by the Labour party, and for his recent defence of Rupert Murdoch after it first emerged that the phone of murder victim Millie Dowler's phone was hacked.

The London mayor reiterated that the answer he gave to the London assembly back in 2009, was based on "what I knew then".

 

Now FOUR police chiefs face inquiry as PM is forced to call emergency session on phone hacking

David Cameron is today facing the greatest crisis of his premiership as he prepares to fly back from an official visit to South Africa for an emergency session of Parliament on phone hacking.

The prime minister's government was plunged into fresh turmoil as it emerged four senior police chiefs will be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

In a dramatic day of developments, the news came just hours after Assistant Commissioner John Yates 'of the Yard' became the second police chief to quit in just a day.

His resignation came the morning after Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson fell on his sword, taking a brutal swipe at Mr Cameron as he went.

Forced out by his links to Neil Wallis, the police chief suggested employing the former News of the World executive as an adviser was less controversial than the Prime Minister's hiring of NotW former editor Andy Coulson.

'Under Mr Coulson, Mr Wallis had not resigned from the News of the World or, to the best of my

Failure to take phone hacking seriously ends in resignation of Met assistant commissioner who handled string of big cases

When he appeared before an angry home affairs select committee last week, John Yates admitted that his decision not to reopen the phone-hacking investigation two years ago had been, in his own words, a poor one.

Two days earlier the Metropolitan police assistant commissioner had been a little more forthright, confiding in a Sunday newspaper that the choice had been "pretty crap".

That repeated underestimation of the severity of the News of the World saga has not only embarrassed the Met and cost the commissioner his job, it has proved to be the miscalculation that undid another of the Met's most respected officers.

Until the phone-hacking scandal erupted, Yates's three decades at Scotland Yard had been comparatively free of blemish.

Born in Liverpool in 1959 and educated at Marlborough and King's College London, Yates joined the Met in 1981 and spent time in uniform before rising through the hierarchy.

He was a popular figure among rank-and-file officers as well as being close to Sir Paul Stephenson, and was regarded as a safe pair of hands for his management of a string of high-profile cases.

In 2002 he took charge of the case of the former royal butler Paul Burrell, who was accused of the theft of Princess Diana's possessions. The trial eventually collapsed following an intervention by the Queen.

He travelled to Brazil to meet the parents of Jean Charles de Menezes, the electrician shot dead by police in July 2005 at Stockwell underground station after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.

As head of the special inquiry squad, nicknamed the "celebrity squad", Yates handled a series of sensitive cases, notably the conviction for perjury of the novelist and former Conservative party chairman Lord Archer, the investigation of the television presenter John Leslie over claims of rape and the Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? fraud case.

In 2006 he was appointed assistant commissioner, then took over from Bob Quick as head of counter-terrorism in 2009 following an embarrassing security breach.

But it was the tortuous and futile investigation into the Labour "cash-for-honours" allegations that thrust him most prominently into the limelight.

The 16-month inquiry ended in July 2007 with no charges brought.

Senior Labour figures said Yates and his officers – who carried out a dawn swoop on the Downing Street aide Ruth Turner and arrested Tony Blair's friend and envoy Lord Levy – had been heavy-handed. Yates insisted he had simply been following the evidence and also noted that his officers had at times received "less than full co-operation" from those allegedly involved.

Those remarks were echoed last week when Yates appeared before the select committee to explain why he had chosen not to reopen the News of the World phone-hacking investigation in 2009 after the Guardian claimed hundreds of voice messages had been hacked.

"It is a matter of great concern that, for whatever reason, the News of the World appears to have failed to co-operate in the way that we now know they should have with the relevant police inquiries up until January of this year," he said.

"They have only recently supplied information and evidence that would clearly have had a significant impact on the decisions that I took in 2009 had it been provided to us."

Had he been in possession of such evidence two years ago, said Yates, "I would have made different decisions."

His testimony did not impress the committee. During the hearing MPs passed notes to the chair containing one-word descriptions of Yates's evidence.

Some wrote "evasive" but when Yates finished, the committee's chair, Keith Vaz, said he and his colleagues had found his evidence "unconvincing".

Even so, Yates continued to struggle against what was fast becoming inevitable.

Asked by Vaz if he had considered his position, Yates told him: "If you are suggesting that I should resign for what the News of the World has done, I think that is probably unfair."

Pressed again on whether he thought he would keep his job, Yates insisted it was "not a resignation matter".

But the fatal blow to Yates of the Yard's career was dealt on Sunday when Sir Paul Stephenson resigned, leaving his friend and subordinate – the Met's public face of the phone-hacking inquiry – with no choice.

 

Gordon Brown has been left 'shocked' by the way his family's personal details have been obtained through alleged 'criminality' and 'unethical means'

 

Gordon Brown has been left 'shocked' by the way his family's personal details have been obtained through alleged 'criminality' and 'unethical means', his office said last night.

It has been claimed the former prime minister was targeted by The Sun and the Sunday Times.

The two newspapers allegedly accessed details from his legal file, his Abbey National bank account and his baby son's medical records.


Rebekah Brooks, left, phoned Gordon Brown, right, to tell him that The Sun had obtained his four-month-old son's medical records


Family portrait: Gordon Brown with wife Sarah and sons John and baby Fraser, when he was Chancellor

Mr Brown's spokeswoman said: 'Gordon Brown has now been informed of the scale of intrusion into his family's life.

'The family has been shocked by the level of criminality and the unethical means by which personal details have been obtained.

 
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'The matter is in police hands. The police have confirmed Mr Brown is on Glenn Mulcaire's list.

'And some time ago Mr Brown passed all relevant evidence he had to the police.'

On Twitter, Mr Brown's wife Sarah wrote: 'So sad to learn all I am about my family's privacy - it is very personal and really hurtful if all true.'


Meet and greet: Three years ago it was all smiles as the then prime minister Gordon Brown met Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth (left), Baroness Amos (centre) and Rebekah Wade (now Brooks) during a reception for women in business at 10 Downing Street


Intrusion: Gordon Brown has been shocked by the 'unethical' way that News International obtained details of his baby son's medical records


Concerned: Brooks reads a copy of The Times newspaper as she leaves News International building in Wapping, London yesterday

A former aide to Mr Brown questioned how The Sun, when News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was editor, obtained details of his son Fraser's cystic fibrosis.

David Muir, one of Mr Brown's most senior advisers at No 10, said: 'They were contacted by Rebekah Brooks, who told them that they had information that Fraser had cystic fibrosis, which was a matter that they, the family, were just getting their heads around at the time and dealing with.

'And you've got to remember this is just after they had suffered the bereavement with Jennifer (the Browns' first child, who died soon after she was born) as well.


Media mogul: News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch holds a copy of The Sun as he is driven away from his flat in central London yesterday


Working it out: Rupert Murdoch returns later to his London apartment with his personal trainer


In the spotlight: Elisabeth Murdoch, the CEO of production company Shine Limited, leaves her father's home in Westminster last night

'They didn't know how Rebekah came across this information and now, what's come to light, it was obtained by what appeared to be illegal methods.'

Last night Sky News quoted News International sources as being 'comfortable' that stories reported by The Sun about Mr Brown's children were obtained via legitimate means.

A News International spokesman said: 'We note the allegations made today concerning the reporting of matters relating to Gordon Brown.


Gordon Brown's wife Sarah took to Twitter to talk about the claims

'So that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information concerning these allegations is provided to us.'

But the Guardian said there was evidence that a private investigator used a serving police officer to trawl the police national computer for information about him.

That investigator also targeted another Labour MP who was the subject of hostile inquiries by the News of the World, but it is not confirmed whether News International was specifically involved in trawling police computers for information on Brown.

Friends of the former Prime Minister and his family said Brooks's call in October 2006 had caused them immense distress.

Mr Brown was outraged and wanted to issue a pre-emptive statement, BBC Newsnight political editor Michael Crick told Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight.

Rebekah Brooks was so worried that such as statement would ruin a Sun 'exclusive' that she called Damian McBride, one of Gordon Brown's closest lieutenants, and got 'quite heavy', according to Crick.

The leak, which appears to be a blatant breach of the Data Protection Act, came five years after a story about the Browns' first child revealed she had suffered a brain hemorrhage.

Only a small team of medical specialists had been aware of the girl's condition before her death on January 6, 2002.

The new revelations also included allegations that his bank details and legal file were also accessed by News International.

In dramatic new developments, the News of the World's stablemate the Sunday Times has also been drawn into the hacking row.

A 'blagger' working for the paper apparently posed as the former Prime Minister on six occasions to obtain details from an Abbey National account.

The politician's lawyers, Allen & Overy, were also tricked into handing over confidential information by a conman working for the Sunday Times, the Guardian revealed.

The Sun also obtained details from Mr Brown's son's medical record and published a story about them, it was claimed.

Abbey National carried out an internal investigation and discovered that in January 2000 - when Gordon Brown was Chancellor - someone pretended six times to be the high-profile politician.

They rang the Bradford call centre and were able to get details from his account. Despite the investigation, the bank never worked out who was responsible.

Gunman kills seven in Michigan

A gunman killed seven people, including two children, in two homes in western Michigan today and then led police on a high-speed chase before taking three hostages, authorities said.

The suspect, identified as Rodrick Dantzler, released one of the hostages after police surrounded a house in Grand Rapids where he had sought refuge.

"He has released one of the hostages that he was holding. There is a 53-year-old woman who lived at the house who has been released," Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk said.

"We are hoping to continue negotiating with him," he added, "and have him surrender."

Earlier it was thought there were two adult hostages, a man and woman, but another adult woman was hiding in the home and was discovered, Mr Belk said.

The standoff followed the discovery of the bodies of five adults and two children in two separate locations in the city, setting off a manhunt that involved police helicopters, state police and local sheriff's deputies.

Police spotted Dantzler in a car shortly after the discoveries and began a pursuit that led through downtown Grand Rapids, police spokesman Sergeant Jon Wu said.

Dantzler fired at the officers several times during the chase and police returned fire. Two bystanders were wounded during the chase.

Investigators do not know the motive for the killings but believe that the suspect had relationships with at least one person at each location, Mr Belk said.

The hostages were believed to be strangers to Dantzler.

 

emails are believed to show that large amounts were paid under false names to mask the officers' identities.

All the emails are thought to relate to the period after Andy Coulson became editor in 2003.

The Met is now trying to track down the officers who took bungs. It is believed just a handful of cops accepted the payments - but that some pocketed more than £100,000.

Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has launched an investigation into the payments, to run separately from the Operation Weeting probe into phone hacking.

Sir Paul said: "Anyone identified of wrongdoing can expect the full weight of disciplinary measures, and, if appropriate, action in the criminal courts."

Top lawyer Michael Mansfield QC warned the cops could face severe prison sentences if convicted over the payments.

He said: "I have seen similar incidents attract four, five or even six years - but this case is sufficiently serious that it could be even longer. It is unprecedented."

THE crisis at the News of the World deepened after Scotland Yard said evidence showed the paper paid out more than £100,000 in illegal bungs to bent police officers.

THE crisis at the News of the World deepened after Scotland Yard said evidence showed the paper paid out more than £100,000 in illegal bungs to bent police officers.

The payments were first revealed in emails that News International handed over to police earlier this year.

Reports yesterday claimed the money was paid to cops in sensitive positions, including officers in the Met's royal protection squad and detectives working on murder investigations.