The private investigator jailed in the News of the World phone tapping scandal, Glenn Mulcaire, planned to write a book which would allege that the hacking of voicemails took place with the knowledge of senior staff.

A new inquiry into allegations that public figures had their phones hacked was launched today.

Labour leadership rivals unite in call for inquiry as victims take case to High Court

Who to believe? On one side we have Andy Coulson, a former showbiz hack and red-top editor, who says he knew nothing about illegal phone-hacking taking place at the News of the World during the five years he was in charge. On the other is Sean Hoare, another former showbiz hack, who was showbiz editor during Coulson's reign and who alleges that Coulson knew all along what was going on. Not only did Coulson know, says Hoare, he actively encouraged his staff to intercept the phone calls of celebrities in the pursuit of exclusives.

There are some conspiracy theories that happen to be true. And just because you are paranoid does not mean that they're not listening to your voicemail. The Andy Coulson furore may look like one of those beltway politics stories, but it is not. The personal integrity of the Prime Minister's staff is important; and the story has implications for civil liberties, including the right to privacy, which is not threatened only by government.

Some senior Labour figures think so. As the privacy controversy spirals, Andy Coulson is truly in the thick of it. But where will this tale of modern Britain end?

Q. What is the source of the original phone hacking claims?

Hackers illegally tapped a mobile phone belonging to Tessa Jowell at least 28 times while she was a serving cabinet minister, it emerged last night.

The tabloid, the police and the PCC will be slammed on Wednesday, says Matthew Bell

The row over mobile phone voicemail intercepts by the News of the World is likely to flare up again with a claim today that well over 100 people have had their private accounts hacked.

Up with the lark, out with the owls

The controversy over the News of the World is re-opened with new claims about the then media minister and Boris Johnson – and now footballer Sol Campbell is contacting the police

Lady Buscombe tells Matthew Bell that the Press Complaints Commission is in the clear

The Press Complaints Commission, the watchdog for the newspaper industry, has rejected claims by The Guardian that a widespread and ongoing culture of phone-hacking existed at the News of the World, Britain's biggest-selling Sunday title. After investigation, the PCC reported that it "found no evidence that phone-message hacking is ongoing" at the tabloid, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International.