Murdoch staff defend tabloid at hacking inquiry

LONDON — Current and former editors of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid The Sun defended the newspaper, at the country's phone-hacking inquiry, saying it could be a "powerful force for good".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron is "99.9 percent certain" to be called to the inquiry along with his predecessor Gordon Brown and current Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, the Times reported Monday.

Staff at the best-selling newspaper told the Leveson inquiry in London that they had seen no evidence that the The Sun was guilty of the hacking that led to the closure of its weekly sister paper the News of the World.

Kelvin MacKenzie -- who as Sun editor from 1981 to 1994 presided over colourful headlines such as "Gotcha", about the sinking of the Argentine warship General Belgrano during the Falklands War -- said the paper had since become more cautious.

"Towards the end of my time as editor I was less bullish than I was, perhaps, during the '80s," MacKenzie said.

"The editors (now) are more cautious and were probably right to be cautious."

He admitted some previous mistakes. In 1992, he had told then-prime minister John Major he was going to "throw a bucket full of shit" over him in the following day's paper after Britain left the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

And MacKenzie said Murdoch was furious when The Sun had to pay £1 million in the late 1980s in libel damages to singer Elton John, saying that he had received 40 minutes of "non-stop abuse" by telephone from the Australian-born tycoon.

Dominic Mohan, who has edited The Sun since 2009, said the paper could be a "powerful force for good" through its campaigns, support for charities and efforts to explain complex concepts in clear language.

The former showbiz reporter brushed off a comment he made in 2002 about phone-hacking at a rival tabloid, the Daily Mirror.

He said it was a "cheap shot" and a "joke" at the expense of then editor Piers Morgan, who now fronts a talk show on US-based news network CNN and denied phone-hacking when he appeared at the inquiry last month.

Mohan also appealed for a legal "level playing field" betweenthe press and the Internet, saying that over regulation could be a "potentially mortal blow" to an already struggling newspaper industry.

The paper's current royal editor Duncan Larcombe meanwhile told the inquiry, led by senior judge Brian Leveson, that he contacted Buckingham Palace before running any exclusive story on the royal family.

Cameron ordered the inquiry amid a spiralling scandal over the illegal hacking of mobile phone voicemails by the News of the World, Murdoch's Sunday tabloid, which was shut down in July.

According to a source close to the inquiry, Cameron himself will be summoned after May to answer questions about his relationship with Murdoch, the Times reported.

"I can't see how you can look at the relationship between the press and politicians without talking to top politicians, including the prime minister, the previous prime minister and the leader of the opposition," the source said.

The scandal has also threatened to engulf the The Sun, which has itself faced legal action for alleged phone hacking. It denies the allegations.

A string of people have been arrested over the phone-hacking scandal, including former Sun editor and News International boss Rebekah Brooks, and ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who went on to become Cameron's spokesman.

Brooks' former personal assistant was reportedly arrested last week on suspicion of deleting emails belonging to News International, the British newspaper arm of Murdoch's empire.