British hacking scandal widens with Brown, royal claims

Britain's phone hacking scandal spiralled on Monday amid reports that former premier Gordon Brown and the royals were targeted, as the government dealt a blow to Rupert Murdoch's bid for pay-TV giant BSkyB.

In a story taking new twists and turns by the hour and shaking the entire establishment, Brown was told by police that he may have been targeted by The Sunday Times and The Sun, both stablemates of Murdoch's doomed News of the World tabloid.

"Gordon Brown has now been informed of the scale of intrusion into his family's life," a spokesman for the former leader said Monday.

"The family has been shocked by the level of criminality and the unethical means by which personal details have been obtained. The matter is in police hands," he added.

Police told Brown that private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was working for News International, hacked his phone and accessed his personal bank account when he was finance minister.

The royal family were meanwhile allegedly targeted by the News of the World, Britain's biggest selling weekly newspaper, which Murdoch shut down at the weekend amid allegations of widespread illegal phone hacking.

With the rot threatening to spread to other parts of Murdoch's empire, News International, Murdoch's British newspaper wing, issued a brief statement asking for information about the claims relating to Brown.

"We note the allegations made today concerning the reporting of matters relating to Gordon Brown. So that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information concerning these allegations is provided to us," it said.

But the damage to Australian-born Murdoch's News Corporation continued as current Prime Minister David Cameron's government announced that Murdoch's bid to take over BSkyB would be referred to Britain's competition commission.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told parliament that he had taken the decision after Murdoch's News Corporation withdrew its earlier offer to spin off Sky News from the deal as a concession.

"The events of last week shocked the nation," Hunt said, referring to a frantic period which began one week ago with claims that the News of the World hacked the phone of a young murder victim, and ended with the paper's demise.

He said the decision would take at least six months.