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Deputy PM Nick Clegg offers only qualified backing for No 10's director of communications, Andy Coulson, as Speaker grants debate on newspaper phone hacking

The Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson is under renewed pressure as it was announced that MPs will hold an emergency Commons debate about newspaper phone hacking tomorrow.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minster, gave only qualified backing to Coulson at prime minister's questions today as Labour strived to keep the affair at the top of the political agenda.

As the Speaker, John Bercow, said he would grant a debate on phone hacking, Clegg refused to say whether he believed Coulson's insistence that he did not know about the illegal practices that took place when he was editor of the News of the World.

Taking prime minster's questions in the absence of David Cameron, who flew to France to be with his ill father today, Clegg warned Labour not to "second guess" police inquiries into fresh allegations surrounding Cameron's press chief.

Clegg cited Coulson's repeated insistence that he had no knowledge of the practice when he was editor of the paper. It was "for the police alone" to decide if a new investigation was required, Clegg told Jack Straw, the shadow justice secretary, who was leading for Labour.

Immediately after the session, Bercow said he had accepted a request from Labour former minister Chris Bryant – who is one of the MPs whose mobile phones is alleged to have been hacked – for a debate tomorrow, in which Coulson's role is likely to come under further scrutiny. .

Senior Liberal Democrats were highly critical of the former NoW editor before joining the Tories in government, with Chris Huhne, now climate change and energy secretary, publicly suggesting before the general election that Coulson was either complicit or incompetent.

Pressed by Straw today on whether he was "entirely satisfied" that Coulson had been in the dark about phone hacking at the News of the World, Clegg directed MPs to the previous statement of the No 10 communications chief, which he insisted "speaks for itself".

"Phone hacking is a very serious offence indeed. It is an outrageous invasion of privacy and it is right that two individuals were convicted and imprisoned," Clegg told MPs.

"As for Mr Coulson, he has made it very, very clear that he took responsibility for something of which he had no knowledge at the News of the World and he refutes all the allegations that have been made to the contrary."

He added: "It is now for the police, and the police alone, to decide whether new evidence has come to light which needs to be investigated."

Coulson always denied any knowledge of the illegal eavesdropping, for which the NoW's ex-royal editor, Clive Goodman, and a private detective were jailed in 2007.

But one of his former reporters, Sean Hoare, reignited the row last week by publicly claiming his boss had been aware of the activities. Senior Scotland Yard officer John Yates indicated yesterday he was likely to speak to Coulson as he considers whether to reopen the police probe.

In a further development, the Guardian reported today that a key witness has said he will testify on the phone-hacking affair, both to police and an inquiry begun by parliament.

Ross Hall, a former employee who until now has been silent, had been named in a previous MPs' inquiry as the man who transcribed swaths of hacked voicemail messages for other journalists, including the tabloid's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck.

He told the Guardian he was willing to talk to Scotland Yard and to the home affairs select committee inquiry, which was announced by MPs yesterday.

Downing Street has stood firm on the matter, insisting that Coulson's position is not under threat and said he has the full backing of the prime minister.

Straw used the Commons' session to put pressure on Clegg by quoting Huhne's former comments in which he said that Coulson "was either complicit in criminal activity or the most incompetent editor in Fleet Street".

Straw told Clegg: "Do you expect us to believe that the only person who knew nothing about phone hacking at News of the World was the editor – the very man the prime minister has brought into the heart of the government?"

Clegg replied: "Mr Huhne and I are in complete agreement that if new evidence has come to light the police – and that is what I want and that is what I expect – will now actively look to see whether that evidence is worthy of further investigation. That is what the police are there for," Clegg retorted.

The deputy prime minister took the opportunity to claim that the first person to call Coulson to commiserate on his resignation was Labour former prime minister Gordon Brown.

"He told him not to worry, that he had done the honourable thing and that he knew he would go on to do a worthwhile job," Clegg said to laughter from the government benches.

• Andy Coulson
• PMQs
• House of Commons
• News of the World phone-hacking scandal
• David Cameron
• Nick Clegg
• Newspapers
• Newspapers & magazines

Hélène Mulholland
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Afua Hirsch: Lawyers struggle to bring about a better world but the American president reminds us why we must continue to fight the fight

I have always wondered why so many politicians are lawyers. I learned a few years ago that – while in civil law countries such as those in continental Europe most politicians are bureaucrats, in Africa many have military backgrounds, and in China many are engineers – in England and America many of the most memorable heads of state have had backgrounds in the law.

People say that one of the reasons Barack Obama has been so successful is his ability to be all things to all people. Part white American, part African, part Irish even, and with enough experience of being a black man in America to relate to African Americans, just the fact of his election offered the promise of radical change, but without alienating everyone else.

Many lawyers claim him as one of their own. Obama is a lawyer's politician through and through. It's no coincidence that one of the most memorable passages from his inaugural speech spoke of the importance of returning America to its historic role in defending the rule of law.

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world and we will not give them up for expedience's sake," Obama said last January.

Politician and lawyer are not mutually exclusive. Since he took office, the disappointments and grime of political life have inevitably dimmed the sparkle. It's been a while since I saw any new R&B tracks on YouTube about being in love with Obama.

But it's back when the presidency was just a twinkle in Obama's eye that I find the lawyer I admire so much.

In his biography, Dreams from My Father, he said this about a career in law: "The study of law can be disappointing at times, a matter of applying narrow rules and arcane procedure to an unco-operative reality; a sort of glorified accounting that serves to regulate the affairs of those who have power – and that all too often seeks to explain, to those who do not, the ultimate wisdom and justness of their condition.

"But that's not all the law is. The law is also memory; the law also records a long-running conversation, a national arguing with its conscience. What is our community, and how might that community be reconciled with our freedom? How far do our obligations reach? How do we transform mere power into justice, mere sentiment into love?

"The answers I find in law books don't always satisfy me – for every Brown vs Board of Education I find a score of cases where conscience is sacrificed to expedience or greed. And yet, in the conversation itself, in the joining of voices, I find myself modestly encouraged, believing that so long as the questions are still being asked, what binds us together might somehow, ultimately, prevail."

Many young lawyers – and I was one of them – embark upon a career in law full of optimism about how their understanding of the rules underpinning society will enable them to help change it. All are disappointed by the reality of a system that is capable of producing injustice and justice in at least equal measure, and where daily practice is often more about feeling frustrated by the long arm of the rules, rather than empowered to change them.

But a few lawyers continue asking the questions and fighting the fight and, if Obama is to be believed, it's the process itself that makes things better. I believe him.

• Barack Obama
• US constitution and civil liberties

Afua Hirsch
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The Deputy Prime Minister could face tough questions later from opposition MPs over the phone-hacking row.

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