The New York Times website published a trail to a story due to appear in its Sunday magazine. It made detailed allegations likely to bring intense new pressure on Coulson and the Metropolitan police force, which stands accused of favouring Rupert Murdoch's newspaper group by cutting short its investigation, withholding crucial evidence from prosecutors and failing to inform victims of the newspaper's crimes against them. Coulson declined to comment on the allegations. The News of the World and Scotland Yard have denied all the charges.

Lord Prescott has said he is prepared to take legal action to find out whether News of The World journalists hacked into his phone messages.

'Yes sir, we hacked it, but we couldn't understand what the fcuk he was talking about!'