Cameron Says Inquiry Needed Into Phone-Hacking at News Corp.

(Updates with Miliband in fifth paragraph.)

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron promised at least one inquiry into phone-hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World newspaper and failures by the police to investigate it.

“We do need to have an inquiry, possibly inquiries into what has happened,” Cameron told lawmakers at his weekly question-and-answer session in Parliament in London today. “It’s absolutely disgusting what has taken place. I’m sure everyone in this house, indeed this country, will be revolted.”

British media published further allegations today that the newspaper tapped the voicemails of murder victims and their families and paid police officers for stories. Ford Motor Co. and Lloyds Banking Group Plc canceled advertising in the News Corp. tabloid. The revelations come as the government reviews the company’s 7.8 billion-pound ($12.5 billion) bid for the 61 percent of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc it doesn’t own.

Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband called for Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive officer of News International, the News Corp. division that publishes the newspaper, to step down and the takeover to be referred to the Competition Commission.

“These events show a systematic set of abuses that show the exercise of power without responsibility in our country,” Miliband told lawmakers.

--With assistance from Jonathan Browning in London. Editors: Eddie Buckle, Andrew Atkinson.

To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net; Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net; Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net