Speaking at a press conference in South Africa with Jacob Zuma, David Cameron has indicated that he may postpone the summer recess by at least a day so that he can answer questions on the phone hacking scandal. He said:
"It may be right for Parliament to meet on Wednesday so I can answer questions."
In a speech at 11 at KPMG, Ed Miliband will go further, saying that if Cameron doesn't arrange for MPs to sit on Wednesday, he has "no chance of sorting out this crisis". Continuing in the robust style he's employed over the last couple of weeks, the Labour leader will say:
"In these circumstances the right and responsible thing for the government to do must be to extend the parliamentary session for at least 24 hours so the House of Commons meets on Wednesday. It would give MPs have the chance to debate the issues arising from the select committee hearings and ensure the prime minister answers the many unanswered questions that he faces."
Even before the phone hacking scandal erupted, there were rumours around Westminster that the recess could be postponed because of the high volume of legislation the coalition has introduced to Parliament. The concensus seemed to be then though that No 10 would shy away from such drastic action because of the backlash it would provoke amongst Tory backbenchers, keen to get back to their constituencies and start the summer.
Apparently it has been decided that it's more important for Cameron to be seen by the public to take personal control of this story than for him to stay in his backbenchers' good books. Given the criticism he's attracted for being out of the country the morning after the country's most senior police officer resigned, that's hardly surprising.
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