Martin Moore, of Hacked Off, which campaigns for press reform on behalf of victims of the press, said:“The conclusions of this report, in particular that News international misled Parliament and that News Corporation was guilty of ‘wilful blindness’, are devastating to the reputation of the parent company and the family that runs it."

The Select Committee is effectively saying that the most senior figures at News International, either knowingly or by a culpable failure to act properly, covered up illegal activities and sustained intrusion into the private lives of hundreds of people.

“These findings cannot help but raise serious questions about the fitness of News Corp to hold a broadcasting licence."

The company could start making amends by coming clean even at this late stage by waiving legal privilege in respect of the Leveson Inquiry over documents held by its law firm, Burton Copeland, as the Committee recommends."

If we didn't have the Leveson Inquiry we would certainly need it now. It remains the task of the inquiry to establish how much further wrongdoing went in this company, who else colluded in the cover-up, both inside and outside the company, and whether these activities went further than News International."