17/07/2011 BBC Weekend News

The phone hacking scandal claims its first high profile victim, as

Britain's most senior police officer resigns. Sir Paul

Stephenson says he doesn't want speculation about the Metropolitan

Police's involvement with the News The Commissioner had come under

increasing pressure about his association with Neil Wallis, once

the deputy editor of the News of the World. I would like to take

this opportunity to thank him for all he has done in his time in

office. A few hours earlier, Rebekah Brooks, News

International's former chief executive, was arrested, on

suspicion of phone hacking. We'll have the full story on these two

major developments in the phone hacking scandal.

Also tonight: As another soldier is killed, a committee of MPs

criticises Britain's deployment to Afghanistan.

And, sealed with a kiss. Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke wins the

The News of the World phone hacking scandal has led to the resignation

of Britain's most senior police officer, the Commissioner of the

Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson, and the arrest of one

the most powerful figures n Fleet Street, the former chief executive

of News International, Rebekah Brooks. Sir Paul Stephenson had

been under increasing political pressure to explain the force's

relationship with a PR company run by Neil Wallis, a former deputy

editor of the News of the World. We'll have the story of the arrest

of Mrs Brooks in a moment. First, our home affairs correspondent June

Kelly reports on the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson.

Another tumultuous 24 hours in this saga. Tonight, the scandal brought

down the country's top police officer. I have this afternoon

informed the Palace, home secretary and the mayor, of my intention to

resign as Commissioner of the match Potton police service. The scandal

had gone to the heart of his office, it was his veins to the criminal

suspect and former News of the World visited Neil Wallis which

drew him in. In 2006 he met Neil Wallis, at the time deputy editor

of the News of the World. In 2009, he was appointed head of the

Metropolitan Police. That year, Neil Wallis was given APR, but cut

-- PR contract with the Metropolitan Police. Neil Wallis,

one of 10 people now questioned in the fresh Scotland Yard inquiry

looking at previously undisclosed e-mails and evidence which police

have had for some time. I have no reason to be aware of the

information in our possession, and only recently provided by News

International. He acknowledged he should have made public earlier the

met son mates with Wallace. He was not the only news of the world

figure working at the heart of the Establishment. At the same time,

Andy Coulson also recently arrested, of was David Cameron's chief press

officer. A like Mr Coulson, Neil Wallis did not resign from the News

of the World or had been in any way associated with the original phone

hacking investigation. Secondly, once his name did become associated,

I did not want to compromise the prime minister in any way by

revealing or discussing potential suspects who clearly had a close

relationship with Andy Coulson. resignation has taken ministers by

surprise. The Home Secretary is making a Commons statement tomorrow.

Sir Paul Stephenson has led the force through difficult times.

the current circumstances show that there is still serious issues to be

addressed, I believe that the force's operation is stronger today

than it -- than when he took over. So Paul Stephenson has been at the

head for 2 1/2 years, seen as a safe pair of arms. If he has done a

fantastic job over the last three years. He felt with the

distractions of all of these committee hearings, this judge led

inquiry, he was endlessly going to be focused on phone hacking when he

wanted to get on with other things. Next year, he had been due to leave

-- lead the biggest challenge of the Olympics. I carried ultimate

this possibility for the position we find ourselves in. With

hindsight I wish we had managed some of these things vividly. I

didn't and that is that. He said he was going with his integrity intact.

He will stay in post as the search begins for his successor. The

person who will take on the most high-profile and difficult job in

policing. In a moment, we'll be speaking to

our home editor Mark Easton, at the Home Office. First, our political

editor Nick Robinson in Downing Street.

In the last while, you have been getting more details about the

resignation. Yes, what we heard is what led up to it. You have heard

the Mayor of London and the Home Secretary insist that he jumped and

was not pushed. He was clearly under the most extraordinary

pressure. The Mayor of London was contemplating and still is

contemplating setting up his own inquiry, in addition to that judge

led inquiry set up by the Prime Minister, into the relationship

between the Metropolitan Police and Neil Wallis, the former deputy

editor of the News of the World. Even with the resignation, there

are other senior figures, not least the assistant commissioner, who had

connections with Neil Wallis and who might fill under pressure to

resign. Boris Johnson had called in Sir Paul Stephenson to express his

extreme displeasure, last Thursday. The Home Secretary had expressed

her displeasure and is due to give a statement tomorrow. And he faces

questioning even though he has announced his resignation, in front

of MPs on Tuesday. This pressure seems to have mounted. But with all

politicians insisting, we did not want him to go.

An important time for the Metropolitan Police, where does it

leave the force tonight? It is a dark day for the

Metropolitan Police. Sir Paul Stephenson was a hugely respected

figure inside Scotland Yard and externally. We heard the London

mayor and Theresa May paying glowing tribute to him. That is

because he was seen as a straight forward and uncomplicated police

officer, someone in whom they had confidence to lead the Metropolitan

Police through the Olympics and also the budget cuts they are

having to deal with and the possibility of police reform. There

will be an urgency to get someone immediately to take over from him

while they worked out slightly longer term who will take over full

time. Whoever that prisoners will inherit an in-tray bulging with

real challenges, not least of course the police hacking inquiry,

questions over how the investigation was conducted, the

possibility some police officers might find themselves accused of

corruption. And the Olympics, it is impossible to overplay the massive

complicated police challenge that represents. And I think, were that

to go wrong, it would be hugely significant not just for the Met

and government but for the country as a whole.

The resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson came just hours after

the arrest of the former chief executive of News International,

Rebekah Brooks. She's been questioned on suspicion of

involvement in phone hacking and bribery. Mrs Brooks was arrested at

lunchtime, after going to a London police station by appointment. Our

business editor Robert Peston reports on her arrest. His report

contains some flash photography. The most powerful woman in British

newspapers, of Rebekah Brooks, or she was until she quit from News

International on Friday. Today she was arrested on suspicion of

involvement in phone hacking and corruption. She faced a barrage of

criticism is when allegations were made the news of the world

instigated the phone hacking of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler

when she was editor of the Sunday tabloid.

The rest is so important, the first time we have seen someone at real

management director level, there are no holds barred, this is going

to be a full investigation, going to the very top of the company.

Brooks is the 10th person to be arrested in relation to allegations

that the News of the World instigated phone hacking. On 8th

July, Clive Goodman was arrested on suspicion of involvement in making

illegal payments to police. The same day Andy Coulson, former

editor of the News of the World, and David Cameron's communications

director, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in corruption and

phone hacking. His deputy Neil Wallis, who went on to be a PR

adviser to the police, was also arrested. Today came the arrest of

Mrs Brooks. Those arrested were had been struck by how Sir Paul

Stephenson in his resignation described his past inadequate

knowledge of what happened at the News of the World. I had no

knowledge of the extent of this disgraceful practice. Or indeed the

extent of it there. And the repugnant nature of the selection

of victims which is emerging. Nor of its apparent breach into senior

levels. I saw senior figures from News International provided

evidence that the misbehaviour was confined to way rogue few and not

known about at the top. Rebekah Brooks had a strikingly close

relationship with Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and creator of the

empire that owns News International. He said protecting her was his

priority. On Tuesday, Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, and Mrs

Brooks are meant to give evidence on the Culture, Media and Sport

Select Committee. Now that she has been arrested, she may be

constrained from what she can say. The concern is this is a little bit

convenient and it might mean rebecca brooks and the Murdochs can

evade questioning on Tuesday in committee. I don't think it will

work. Few in the media were are as friendly as Mrs Brooks were the

most powerful in the land. They may be relieved if in the end she can't

give public evidence to MPs on Tuesday. As for Rupert and James

Murdoch, Mrs Brooks was a human shield. With her arrest and spite

had claimed she knew nothing of the systematic malpractices at the News

of the World, the pressure on them to explain what they knew and when

will only intensify. Robert Peston's here now. With the

human shield now gone, what does this mean for the Murdoch family at

the top of this Corporation? I was struck in the resignation statement

by Sir Paul Stephenson, when he said that senior News International

is it is had assured him the wrong doings at the News of the World

were limited in scope and senior people within the organisation did

not know. The arrest of Rebekah Brooks today plainly shows that the

police are no longer confident that version of events is true. As a

sign of how Sisley they're taking it, she is still being held in a

police station. She is still after 11pm arrested and maybe there at

all night. For somebody of her former state is in the media, it is

humiliating. One should be under no illusion about how worrying this is

for the Murdochs, their strategy had been to protect her, they did

not want her to leave the company. They certainly did not want her

arrested. Because, if her version of events which she knew nothing of

the scale of malpractice, if it doesn't cut ice with the police,

they are saying more or less the same thing in their own defence,

and therefore they know that they will face a very serious questions.

They are seeing MPs on Tuesday and will face pressing questions on

this. Goodness only knows who else they will find themselves

answerable to. Let's return to our political

editor Nick Robinson in Downing Street.

A key question tonight is how close is all of this getting to the

occupant of Number Ten? It always has been close because he hired

Andy Coulson who resigned as editor of the News of the World. A few

days ago I compare this with another large, it had built up very

slowly, nothing seemed to shift for a long time. And then quickly,

there is now no sense of where it can go next. There were four people

do to face MPs on Tuesday for cross-questioning, two have

resigned since they were called to give interviews. There is no

knowing whether other police figures will be forced to resign.

Orione News International or News Corporation. The Prime Minister is

suddenly feeling the heat because Sir Paul Stephenson has pointed the

finger at him, saying, I am going as head of the Met having hired the

former deputy editor of the News of the World he did not resign over

phone hacking. By implication, saying you, Prime Minister, you

hide his boss who was in a sense responsible for the paper which was

responsible for phone hacking. Those close to David come and do

not like that and are saying, it is one thing to Hari head of

communications, another to hire someone whose activities you are

supposed to be investigating. When you get the highest powers in the

land, in Downing Street and at the top of the most important police

force in Britain, falling out, you know there is real trouble.

In other news: A group of MPs has strongly criticised the way British

troops were first deployed in Afghanistan. Members of the Defence

Select Committee also warned against any premature withdrawal,

saying pulling out any more than a few hundred support troops could

dangerously weaken the remaining forces. Our defence correspondent

Caroline Wyatt reports. The trouble war dance in a faraway

land, and that was just the New Zealanders. The traditional Haka to

an appreciative Afghan audience. The dance, normally by Warriors

before battle, today marked the end of theirs as they handed over

security to Afghan police in this mainly peaceful province of Bamiyan.

This week, British forces will be doing the same in Lashkar Gah, part

of the gradual handover to Afghan police and army. The planners they

had made clear Britain's combat mission would finish by 2014. Today

there was a warning against leading Afghanistan too hastily, as MPs on

the defence committee delivered a scathing verdict on how the mission

began. A ultimately, if you do not have overwhelming force on the

ground, it means that troops are put at risk. And in the

circumstances of Afghanistan, that does mean lives are lost because

you haven't got enough resources. That is what happened in

Afghanistan and it should never be allowed to happen again.

committee said it was not acceptable that UK forces were

deployed without the necessary personnel, equipment or

intelligence to succeed in their mission. And that the stakes --

mistakes were made a result of a failure in co-ordination. While the

decision to move UK's Armed Forces into 1006 was not fully thought

through. The death announce today of another British soldier in

Helmand is now the subject of an investigation, a stark illustration

of the difficulties which are still lie ahead in this campaign. Senior

officers involved from the start say mistakes were made when British

troops were first sent in. In 2006 we were heavily committed to Iraq

and the problem the Army in particular had was we were manned

for one major operation but we were conducting two. With NATO troops

looking for an exit, there are hopes that the Afghan troops will

be able to cope alone. With news from Kabul that two senior

positions had been killed by gunmen, many are worried will be -- how

In golf darn Clarke has won the Open at Sandwich. He won by three

shots and lifted the Claret Jug. -- Darren Clarke. The signs were

ominous, most of them, were hoping that Darren Clarke could at his

20th attempt win the Open. The old man of Northern Ireland should have

two things on his side. One the great surge of support washing

around him and the other is that these phenomenally gusty conditions

should feel just like home. A rescued par on first was followed

by an immense roar on the second. Birdie and the lead ex -- extended

to two. But behind him was a bear from America. Phil Mickelson was on

the rampage. Then it was Clarke's turn, same green, same eagle. The

sun was shining on the leader, if not on everyone else. Then the pack

began to lose their teeth. Mickelson and then Johnson went

awry. Conventional wisdom told us that golf is the preserve of the

young and fit. But Clarke made his win like his approach to life -

easy going. I always believed I would get myself back I had enough

challenge to win. So I couldn't wish to win a bigger and better one.