British prime minister David Cameron today defended the way his staff dealt with the police over claims of phone-hacking and bribery at Rupert Murdoch's UK newspapers.
Mr Cameron also said he regretted the furore caused by his decision to hire former Murdoch newspaper editor Andy Coulson as his media chief after he had resigned from the News of the World tabloid over phone-hacking.
But in hours of stormy questioning he seemed to rally his Conservative party behind him and stopped short of bowing to demands that he apologise outright for what the Labour leader called a "catastrophic error of judgment" in appointing as his spokesman a former editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World.
Only if Andy Coulson, who has since resigned, should turn out to have lied about not knowing of illegal practices at his newspaper would the prime minister offer a "profound apology".
Analysts said Mr Cameron emerged from the debate looking stronger than when he was forced to fly home early from Africa to face lawmakers who had delayed their summer recess by a day. But he left some lingering questions unanswered, notably about his role in Murdoch's takeover bid for TV network BSkyB .
After his toughest two weeks in office, the 44-year-old prime minister spoke with feeling of the Coulson saga: "You live and you learn -- and believe you me, I have learnt," he said.
"It was my decision ... Of course I regret and I am extremely sorry about the furore it has caused. With 20:20 hindsight ... I would not have offered him the job."
He said of Coulson, who is under suspicion of conspiring to intercept calls and bribe police: "I have an old-fashioned view about innocent until proven guilty. But if it turns out I have been lied to, that would be a moment for a profound apology.
"And, in that event, I can tell you I will not fall short."
Beleaguered but hardly under serious threat of being ousted by his party allies after less than 15 months in power, Mr Cameron defended his actions and those of his staff in dealings with Murdoch's News Corp global media empire and with two senior police chiefs who resigned this week over the affair.
"He seems to have gained a bit of breathing space over the course of this debate," said Andrew Russell, senior politics lecturer at Manchester University. "He looked more self assured today than he has been for a little while."
Conservative member of parliament George Eustice spoke for a party relieved by the leader's performance: "Cameron did really well. He's got back on the front foot and taken the initiative."
He added: "The idea that his position as prime minister was in doubt was a complete nonsense."
The prime minister named six members of a judge-led panel set up to examine the extent of illegal activity at UK news groups and their links with the police after the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
The panel, which Mr Cameron said will begin its work immediately, is to examine the ethics, culture and practices of the British press, especially at News International, which publishes News Corp's British titles. It must also investigate the police inquiry into the phone-hacking allegations and study whether police received bribes.
The prime minister also said there may be a case for removing politicians from decisions on future media mergers. "It is right there are good and proper legal processes for considering media mergers, but we should ask whether politicians should be abstracted from them altogether."
Rupert Murdoch (80) was attacked by a protester with a foam pie when he appeared before a parliamentary committee yesterday and made a "humble" apology for the scandal but refused to resign. He said staff who "betrayed" him were at fault.
He later sent a message to his staff that his company was taking steps to ensure that "serious problems never happen again".
"Those who have betrayed our trust must be held accountable under the law," he added in an email sent late yesterday.
A new opinion poll by Reuters/Ipsos MORI showed Britons' satisfaction with Mr Cameron had fallen to its lowest level since he entered office in May last year. Only 38 per cent were happy with the way he was doing his job.
The scandal is unlikely to bring down Mr Cameron, in office for less than 15 months, but could make it harder for him to manage a Conservative-led coalition that is focused on quick deficit reduction through austerity measures, which have labour unions threatening mass strikes.
Mr Cameron cut short a trip to Africa for the debate, with the Labour Party determined to put him on the rack over why he employed Mr Coulson
Rupert Murdoch shut the 168-year-old News of the World and, faced with political outrage, dropped a $12-billion bid to buy out other shareholders in British pay-TV network BSkyB
Having published apologies in newspapers and met the parents of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, Mr Murdoch took pains to read out a further emotional statement of regret after the hearing.
Mr Murdoch said he had been "very" misled by his staff. "I would like all the victims of phone-hacking to know how completely and deeply sorry I am," he said.
Police say they are probing the hacking of messages of possibly 4,000 people.
Asked if he felt he should resign, Mr Murdoch said: "No. I feel that people I trusted, I'm not saying who, I don't know on what level, have let me down and I think they behaved disgracefully, betrayed the company and me and it's for them to pay."
Reuters/Bloomberg