London - Former British prime minister Tony Blair
will testify next week at a press ethics inquiry set up following a
phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, the inquiry
said on Friday.
Blair, Britain's Labour premier between 1997 and 2007, is likely to be asked by the Leveson Inquiry
about the nature of his government's links to Murdoch's US-based media
empire News Corporation when he gives testimony on Monday.
The
59-year-old, who will give a full day of evidence, is godfather to one
of Murdoch's children, while Britain's biggest-selling newspaper, the
Murdoch-owned Sun, backed him in three elections.
Culture
minister Jeremy Hunt, who has battled calls to resign over evidence
heard by the inquiry, will also give a full day of evidence on Thursday.
The
Leveson Inquiry published e-mails last month revealing that Hunt's
office leaked information to News Corporation about its bid to gain full
control of pay-TV giant BSkyB.
News Corporation was forced in
July to drop the bid for the highly profitable broadcaster, of which it
still controls 39%, amid public outcry over the phone-hacking scandal.
Australian-born
Murdoch, aged 81, was forced to close the News of the World tabloid in
July amid a storm of revelations that it accessed the voicemail messages
of a murdered teenage girl as well as dozens of public figures.
- SAPA