They are director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, the former chief constable of the West Midlands Sir Paul Scott-Lee, former chairman of Ofcom Lord David Currie, former political editor of Channel 4 news Elinor Goodman, former Daily Telegraph political editor George Jones, and former FT chairman Sir David Bell.

BBC: Prime Minister David Cameron's statement on phone hacking

The Daily Telegraph's legal affairs editor Joshua Rozenberg said Lord Phillips' remarks reflected a general mood among the judiciary that mandatory sentencing had tied their hands.

BBC: Last Updated: Friday, 9 March 2007, 16:15 GMT

Sir Peregrine Worsthorne, former editor of the Sunday Telegraph, said the take-over was a sign of "national decline".

BBC: Ex-KGB spy buys UK paper for ?1