LONDON — Britain’s roiling phone- hacking scandal reverberated deep inside this nation’s power structure Sunday with the head of Scotland Yard, Sir Paul Stephenson, resigning only hours after Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British operations, was arrested.
Stephenson — Britain’s most senior police official — said he was offering his resignation in light of “ongoing speculation and accusations” relating to his force’s links to senior members of News International, the British division of Murdoch’s News Corp.
The pace of the scandal’s spread raised questions about how high the fallout could go, with Prime Minister David Cameron and Murdoch’s son James in the line of fire.
Stephenson’s move came amid massive criticism of his storied police force’s handling of the scandal. Police missteps included the hiring of Neil Wallis — a former top editor at the News of the World — as a special adviser to Scotland Yard, despite widespread reports of illegal news-gathering at the tabloid during his tenure. Wal lis was arrested Thursday.
Stephenson maintained Sunday that his “integrity” remains intact, but he said the focus on him and other high-ranking officers at the Metropolitan Police, more commonly known as Scotland Yard, had become a major distraction.
Stephenson acknowledged that his force had mishandled the phone-hacking case. After making just two arrests in 2006 and considering wrongdoing at the tabloid an isolated incident, officers dropped the matter, reopening the case only under mounting pressure this year.
The upheaval at Scotland Yard came as Brooks, who resigned Friday as head of Murdoch’s British operations, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept communications and of corruption, a reference to bribes allegedly made to police officers for news tips.
The arrest marks a dramatic fall from grace for Brooks, who was feared and courted by the British political establishment as she rose to become chief executive of News International. Brooks headed the News of the World from 2000 to 2003, a time when the paper is said to have engaged in widespread phone hacking.
In 2003, Brooks admitted to Parliament that under her leadership, the News of the World paid police officers for information. She has denied any knowledge of phone hacking.
Brooks’ arrest raises the stakes for News Corp., which was forced to drop its bid for British Sky Broadcasting Corp. last week. With Brooks — whom Murdoch once described as a being like a daughter to him — facing criminal charges, experts questioned whether James Murdoch, 38, Rupert Murdoch’s son, who oversees News Corp.’s British interests, could become entangled in the scandal.
Father and son have agreed to appear Tuesday before Parliament, when they are likely to be grilled by lawmakers.
Committee says no wrongdoing at Journal
The independent committee charged with monitoring editorial integrity at The Wall Street Journal said Saturday it is not aware of any wrongdoing at The Journal or its parent company, Dow Jones & Co., which is owned by News Corp. The committee said it did not think Les Hinton’s resignation as publisher of The Journal and chief executive of Dow Jones was related to activities at either place. Hinton resigned Friday. He had been chairman of News Corp.’s British newspaper arm for some of the years in which phones allegedly were hacked.
Key dates
August 2006 After a complaint from Buckingham Palace, News of the World reporter Clive Goodman is arrested in suspected hacking of royal officials’ voice mails.
January 2007 Goodman is jailed; News of the World editor Andy Coulson resigns.
May 2007 Conservative Party leader David Cameron taps Coulson to be his media adviser.
September 2009 Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the News of the World and its sister paper The Sun, is named chief executive of News International, News Corp.’s British arm.
May 2010 Cameron becomes prime minister, and Coulson is named his communications chief.
January 2011 British police reopen an investigation into the hacks. Coulson resigns his Downing Street post.
May-June The News of the World agrees to pay actress Sienna Miller and athlete Andy Gray to settle phone- hacking claims.
July 4 The Guardian newspaper reports the phone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler was hacked by the News of the World when Brooks was its editor.
July 5 News of the World advertisers boycott the paper.
July 7 News International announces it will close the 168- year-old News of the World.
July 13 News Corp. pulls its bid to take full control of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting.
July 15 Brooks resigns as CEO of News International.Les Hinton, former News International chairman, resigns as CEO of Dow Jones & Co. and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Murdoch meets with Dowler’s family to apologize.
July 17 Brooks is arrested by U.K. police. Sir Paul Stephenson resigns as the head of Scotland Yard.
