A public firestorm has engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s top-selling British newspapers, with senior News Corp executives facing a full parliamentary probe into allegations that journalists hacked into thousands of mobile telephones belonging to politicians and celebrities.

The row, triggered by a report in The Guardian newspaper that News Corp had paid £1m (€1.2m) in out-of-court settlements to several people including a senior official in UK football, has drawn in the police.