Cameron, Osborne, Brown and Clegg At Leveson Nex Teek

David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne are among a list of political heavyweights due to appear before the Leveson Inquiry next week.

The Prime Minister has been called to give evidence to the probe into media ethics at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Thursday.

Ex-PM Gordon Brown and Mr Osborne will be first up on Monday, followed by Labour leader Ed Miliband, his deputy Harriet Harman and former prime minister Sir John Major on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg will take the stand, as well as Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party.

Mr Cameron is likely to be questioned about his relationship with the media, News Corporation chief executive and chairman Rupert Murdoch, and his friendship with former News Of The World editor Rebekah Brooks.

The PM is also likely to be grilled over his decision to hand Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt the responsibility for overseeing News Corp's BSkyB bid.

At the last hearing on May 31 before a one-week break, Mr Hunt survived a six-hour grilling over his handling of the process .

Mr Cameron judged afterwards that the cabinet minister had acted "properly" and decided not to order an investigation into whether he had breached the ministerial code of conduct.

Mr Hunt also insisted there was no reason for him to quit, insisting he handled the bid with "scrupulous fairness" - though he admitted in his evidence that he had considered resigning.

He also suggested he regretted text messages he exchanged with senior figures from News Corp.

The inquiry also heard he sent text messages to Mr Osborne expressing his fears the Government was going to "screw up" the deal when secret recordings of Business Secretary Vince Cable "declaring war" on News Corp emerged.

Mr Cable was later stripped of his responsibilities for the media.

Clegg pledges surveillance controls

Nick Clegg has insisted the "highest possible safeguards" will be built into any new surveillance powers introduced by the Government but said new technology meant the debate was needed.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 World at One programme, the Deputy Prime Minister refused to elaborate on what the safeguards might be, insisting it was appropriate for the plans to be published first.

But the Liberal Democrat leader said what was being discussed was a case of updating existing powers to take account of new technology - such as internet telephone service Skype - which he said criminals and terrorists could use to subvert surveillance laws already on the books.

News of the proposals has sparked fierce opposition from civil liberties campaigners, including Tory MP David Davis.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said any new
surveillance powers will come
with the 'highest possible safeguards'

Mr Clegg told the programme: "I think it is very important people hold off making their judgement until they see the proposals.

"There has been a lot of speculation, some of it inaccurate, over the last couple of days. I happen to think it is right to have a debate about what we do as a society as criminals exploit new technologies.

"People should be reassured were are not going to ram something through Parliament. All along we will be guided by some very simple principles."

Mr Clegg said this will mean ensuring there is no new Government database and consulting widely - not just on new powers but on whether existing powers are already sufficient.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the police would not be given new powers to look at people's emails but said powers may need to be updated to "keep pace with the use of new technology".

He added: "Anything in this area is highly sensitive and it is good we are having this kind of wider debate."


©Press Association