Embattled British Premier David Cameron today came close to apologising for hiring former News of the World deputy editor Andy Coulson as his media adviser, saying he would not have done it "in hindsight," as he launched a spirited response to the biggest political crisis of his term.
In his showdown with angry opposition in the House of Commons, Cameron said he had done nothing wrong in the now mothballed Murdoch bid for BSkyB and also had no dealings with another NOTW hacking suspect Neil Wallis.
He, however, defended his former communications chief, saying Coulson should be held innocent until proven guilty, making an emergency statement to parliament on the phone- hacking scandal, a day after media mogul Rupert Murdoch refused to take the blame for the phone hackings that have already led to resignations of two top London cops.
Cameron, nevertheless, said he would offer a "profound apology" if Coulson came out tainted in the scandal.
"People will of course make judgements about it. Of course I regret and I am extremely sorry about the furore it has caused," Cameron said.
"With 20-20 hindsight and all that has followed, I would not have offered him the job and I expect that he wouldn't have taken it.
"But you don't make decisions in hindsight, you make them in the present. You live and you learn and believe you me, I have learned," the Prime Minister said.
Cameron also said that the arrested ex-deputy editor of NOTW, Wallis may have advised Coulson before last year's general election but denied that his Conservative party had paid him.
Dwelling on the larger fall out of the scandal that has shaken British media like never before, Cameron said inquiry into the phone hacking case will be widened to examine the conduct of individuals in the police, media and politics.
"We have agreed that the inquiry should consider not just the relationship between the press, police and politicians but their individual conduct too," Cameron said.
"And we have also made clear that the inquiry should look at not just the press but other media organisations – including broadcasters and social media – if there is any evidence that they have been involved in criminal activities," he said.
The prime minister told lawmakers he had accepted "significant amendments" to the terms of reference of probe to be conducted by Lord Justice Leveson.
The Prime minister also vociferously defended his chief of staff for deciding against receiving a briefing from former deputy police commissioner John Yates on the issue.
"It has been suggested that my chief of staff was behaving wrongly when he didn't take John Yates' offer to be briefed. I have said the inquiry should go wherever the evidence leads. We have now published the email exchange, and it shows that my staff behaved entirely properly.
"Imagine if they had done the opposite and received privileged information. There would have been justifiable outrage and would have been completely wrong," he said.
Cameron has come under intense fire for his links to the people at the centre of the scandal, that has hit Murdoch's media empire hard while also engulfing the Scotland Yard.
There was loud jeering from the opposition benches as Cameron launched a spirited defence in which the Prime Minister tried to suggest that he was above party politics by emphasising the steps being taken to reform relationships between politicians, police and the media.
"If Andy Coulson is found to have perjured himself, he will face severe criminal penalties," he said.
"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," he said.
Cameron, who had assumed office in May last year, had cut short a trip to Africa to take part in today's emergency debate on confidence in the media and the police, shaken by alleged malpractice at the NOTW and the resignations of two senior Met Police officers.
However, Labour leader Ed Miliband said there had been a "deliberate attempt to hide the facts". He said repeated warnings about Coulson's suitability for the job as Cameron's press spokesman had been ignored.
The proceedings came a day after Rupert Murdoch appeared before the British lawmakers, along with his son James and former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks, calling it "the most humble day of my life" and apologising to the victims but denying responsibility for the fiasco.
On her part, Brooks who is now out on bail, claimed at the hearing that she never knowingly sanctioned payoff to any police officer in the hacking and bribery scandal.
Brooks, who was subjected to intense grilling, said News International had acted "quickly and decisively" in dealing with the scandal.
