PMQs: Clegg faces questions on phone hacking

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has insisted it is for the police to decide how to proceed over the News of the World phone hacking row.

Mr Clegg, standing in for David Cameron at prime minister's questions on 8 September 2010, was asked whether he was "entirely satisfied" that No 10's director of communications Andy Coulson was unaware of attempts to access mobile phone voicemails illegally by staff at the newspaper during his tenure as editor.

Mr Cameron missed his first Commons question session since the summer recess to travel to France to be with his father, who is seriously ill after suffering a stroke.

Shadow justice secretary Jack Straw said the prime minister had made "exactly the right decision".

But he challenged the deputy PM: "Do you expect us to believe that the only person who knew nothing about phone hacking at the News of the World was the editor, the very man who the prime minister has brought into the heart of this government?"

Mr Clegg replied: "What I expect and hope you believe is that it is now for the police to investigate whether these new charges and allegations have anything to them."

He added: "Mr Coulson has made it quite clear that he had no knowledge and he refutes all the allegations."

Mr Clegg continued: "While I, in a slightly rushed manner, was preparing for today, suspecting this issue might come up, I read in one of the briefing notes I received that, when Andy Coulson resigned from the News of the World, the first person to call to commiserate was Gordon Brown.

"He told him not to worry, that he had done the honourable thing and that he knew he would go on to do a worthwhile job," Mr Clegg claimed, prompting laughter on the government benches.

At the conclusion of the question session, Speaker John Bercow announced that he would grant a Commons debate on allegations that MPs' mobile phones were hacked by News of the World journalists.

The debate is expected to take place at about 12.15 pm on Thursday 9 September.