Piers Morgan to Paul McCartney: we didn't hack you (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Piers Morgan has responded to countless allegations that he knew of, condoned or practiced phone hacking while editor of the Daily Mirror, but Monday night on Conan O'Brien he switched roles and became the accuser.

Morgan accused Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Paul McCartney, of hacking her former husband, the same charge Mills has leveled against Morgan.

"Paul McCartney is apparently now claiming someone hacked his phone," Morgan told O'Brien. "I suspect it was Heather Mills because in the divorce, if you study the divorce papers, Paul McCartney accused Heather then of hacking into his phones and passing information to the papers."

The conversation started when O'Brien asked Morgan about the hacking charges, to which Morgan said: "I kind of thought when Heather Mills poked her head up above the parapet, the whole thing got completely ridiculous."

Morgan then recounted how he introduced Mills and McCartney, eventually costing McCartney $50 million in settlements. Morgan said Mills should thank him, and added if there was anyone he should apologize to, it is Sir Paul.

You can see the clip here: http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/piers-morgan-apologizes-paul-mccartney-conan-29921

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CNN's Piers Morgan denies role in UK hacking scandal (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – CNN talk show host and former News of the World editor Piers Morgan on Tuesday angrily denied claims by a British lawmaker that he had taken part in phone hacking during his years as a journalist in Britain.

Morgan, who hosts the U.S. nightly talk and current affairs show "Piers Morgan Tonight," said he may have been a victim of hacking but that he had never hacked a phone himself.

"That MP (member of parliament) just claimed I boasted in my book of using phone-hacking for a scoop," Morgan said on Twitter during Tuesday's hearing by a British parliamentary panel in London on the scandal engulfing newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation empire.

"Complete nonsense. Just read the book," Morgan tweeted. "I've never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, or published any stories based on the hacking of a phone."

Morgan, who edited the now-defunct News of The World in 1994-1995, was responding to remarks by British MP Louise Mensch at Tuesday's televised grilling of Rupert and James Murdoch, which was seen around the world.

Mensch stated that Morgan had boasted in his 2005 book "The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade" of having won a scoop for his Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper by using a code to gain entry into another person's cell phone.

Morgan said Mensch had got her facts mixed up.

In the book, he wrote that he suspected he was a victim of phone hacking. "I wrote in my book that someone warned me phones could be hacked, so I changed my pin number."

Morgan, who said little during the first two weeks of the phone hacking scandal in Britain, said on his show on Monday that he did not believe that any story published in either the News of The World or The Daily Mirror under his editorship was obtained by unlawful means.

He also defended Rupert Murdoch, saying that he found it "impossible, personally knowing the man, to believe that he would have known about law-breaking on his newspapers, let alone would he condone it."

Morgan, 46, also worked on Murdoch's daily newspaper The Sun between 1989-94 before moving to The News of the World and then The Daily Mirror in London from 1995-2004.

He took over veteran Larry King's slot on CNN in January 2011 and is also a judge on the TV show "America's Got Talent".

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant. Editing by Peter Bohan)

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Piers Morgan seeks apology over phone hacking claim (AFP)

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Former British tabloid editor Piers Morgan has demanded an apology from a lawmaker who made claims about him admitting to phone hacking, at the London hearing which quizzed Rupert Murdoch.

In an angry on-air exchange, Morgan, who is now a celebrity interviewer for US television news network CNN, challenged Member of Parliament Louise Mensch to repeat her claim that he had "boasted" of phone hacking in a book about his tabloid editor days.

She declined to do so, saying she had been covered by parliamentary privilege -- which protects her from legal action for anything said inside parliament -- a protection which does not apply if she repeats the words elsewhere.

In the committee hearing which grilled Murdoch and his son James over the phone hacking scandal rocking the tycoon's media empire, Mensch said Morgan had boasted about using a phone hacking "little trick" to win a scoop of the year award.

"That is a former editor of the Daily Mirror being very open about his personal use of phone hacking," she said in the hearing.

But Morgan, a former editor of the Mirror and of Murdoch's now-shuttered News of the World, said he had never claimed to have used phone hacking himself in his 2005 book "The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade."

"I'm amused by her cowardice in refusing to repeat that allegation now that shes not in parliament covered by privilege," Morgan said in the on-air exchange with Mensch, who was in London.

"She came out with an absolute blatant lie during those proceedings. At no stage in my book or indeed outside of my book have I ever boasted of using phone hacking for any stories."

And he added: "For the record, in my time at the Mirror and the News of the World I have never hacked a phone, told anybody to hack a phone or published any story based on the hacking of a phone."

In an increasingly tetchy exchange, during which Mensch said Morgan was a rich man and accused him of threatening her, the former newspaperman added: "I think you should apologize for being a liar."

He repeatedly bashed her for invoking parliamentary privilege and said Mensch should "show some balls" and repeat her claims outside the hearing.

Asking her to produce evidence to back her claim, he said: "If there is no evidence for that, are you going to publicly apologize to me, and to CNN right now for such an outrageous lie?"

"I feel no need whatsoever to apologize," said the lawmaker.

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