The Commons Culture Committee may not be able to make James and Rupert Murdoch appear before it
MPs are to meet later to decide whether to summon News International chief Rebekah Brooks to appear before them over the phone-hacking scandal.
The Commons Culture Committee also wants to question News Corporation executives Rupert and James Murdoch but may be unable to compel them to appear.
The company has shut down its News of the World newspaper over the scandal and dropped its bid to control BSkyB.
US politicians are also demanding a probe into phone hacking allegations.
On Tuesday, the Commons Culture Committee invited Ms Brooks and the Murdochs to give evidence about the phone-hacking scandal at the House of Commons. In a statement, the MPs said that serious questions had arisen about the evidence Ms Brooks and the News of the World's former editor Andy Coulson gave at a previous hearing in 2003.
Conservative MP Louise Mensch, who is a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said the Murdochs should take the opportunity to appear before it on Tuesday next week.
'Answer questions'She said: "We have powers over British citizens, in other words over Mrs Brooks.
"Rupert and James Murdoch are American citizens, we don't have any power over them, but I think it would surprise everybody if they were to have the guts to show up.
"It would show a little bit of leadership, it would be the first step in lancing this giant boil.
"I would urge them to come before a select committee of Parliament, to have the courage to show up and answer the questions."
News International declined to comment on who might attend the committee.
It comes after Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, whose UK arm News International owns newspapers the Sun, the Times, the Sunday Times and the now closed News of the World, dropped a bid to take complete control of broadcaster BSkyB.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt had referred News Corporation's bid to acquire the 61% of shares it does not already own in satellite broadcaster BSkyB to the Competition Commission.
Despite the company's announcement, MPs from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and smaller parties backed a Labour motion condemning the plans without the need for a vote.
The News of the World was shut down last week amid a mounting scandal over the alleged hacking of phones belonging to crime victims, politicians and celebrities.
Former prime minister Gordon Brown spoke out in the Commons against alleged law-breaking on an "industrial scale" at News International. He also said there were no private deals with the company when he was in Downing Street.
Press practicesMeanwhile, Democratic senator Jay Rockefeller said US authorities should consider whether journalists working for News Corp had broken US law.
Mr Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate's Commerce Committee, expressed concern that phone hacking may have extended to American targets, including victims of 9/11, although he presented no evidence.
More congressmen, including the first major Republican, Peter King, called for a federal investigation into News Corp's actions.
Others included senators Frank Lautenberg, Robert Menendez and Barbara Boxer.
Rupert Murdoch's American assets include the Wall Street Journal and Fox News.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has announced the terms of an independent inquiry into the hacking affair, which he said would examine the practices of the press.
'Media power'Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told BBC Two's Newsnight that any attempt by Rupert Murdoch to revisit the BSkyB deal would have to take into account the findings of both the inquiry and the police investigation into phone hacking.
He said: "If at some point in the future Mr Murdoch were to return and seek again to take over BSkyB we would then be able to respond with the benefit of the outcome of that inquiry and that police investigation.
Scope of hacking inquiry
- Culture, practices and ethics of the press
- Their relationship with the police
- Failure of current regulation
- Contacts made and discussions between national newspapers and politicians
- Why previous warnings about press misconduct were not heeded
- Issue of cross-media ownership
"It may be the case that in the course of that process we collectively come to the conclusion we need to change the law that governs media ownership and issues around concentration of power in the media."
Mr Cameron told MPs the judge leading the phone-hacking inquiry, Lord Justice Leveson, would have powers to call media proprietors, editors and politicians to give evidence under oath.
Mr Cameron said the inquiry would begin as "quickly as possible" and be in two parts - an investigation of wrongdoing in the press and police, and a review of regulation in the press.
Earlier, at prime minister's questions, Mr Cameron said a "firestorm" was engulfing parts of the media and police, and those who had committed offences must be prosecuted.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said it was an insult to the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler that Ms Brooks was still News International's chief executive. Miss Dowler's phone was among those allegedly hacked by the News of the World.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-politics-14148658
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