UK police urge 'New York Times' to show hacking evidence

British police urged the New York Times on Tuesday to hand over any evidence it has about tabloid phone hacking allegations that threaten the position of a close aide to the prime minister.

Andy Coulson, Prime Minister David Cameron's director of communications, has denied that he encouraged reporters to illegally hack voicemail messages in his previous role as editor of the News of the World tabloid.

Opposition Labour politicians have said that Coulson should be sacked and Cameron's critics are using the issue to question the judgment of the man who became prime minister in May.

The issue is an unwanted distraction for the government as it prepares to unveil an austerity programme next month to rein in a record peacetime budget deficit.

"We've spoken to the New York Times because clearly we want to understand what material they have. They have already indicated that they are not prepared to help us on the basis that it's journalistic privilege," said John Yates, assistant commissioner in London's metropolitan police.

"Colleagues have written to them again today to see whether they are willing to waive that privilege in these what are quite exceptional circumstances," added Yates, speaking before a parliamentary committee.                                           

"I'm not hopeful but we'll try there first," he added.

Coulson stepped down as News of the World editor in 2007 after a phone-hacking scandal. Cameron gave him a job the same year and he shaped the message that helped the centre-right Conservatives return to power after 13 years in opposition.

Clive Goodman, who reported on the royal family for the News of the World, was jailed for four months after writing stories based on information from a private detective who had illegally accessed the voicemail messages of palace aides.

The newspaper has always maintained that Goodman acted without the knowledge of senior editors, including Coulson.

The issue resurfaced last week after the New York Times accused reporters at the best-selling Sunday tabloid, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, of openly pursuing hacking or other improper tactics to satisfy demanding editors.

Since then, former News of the World reporter Sean Hoare told the BBC he was asked by Coulson to tap into phones.

Coulson denies the allegations but has offered to speak to police about them.

"In terms of Sean Hoare, that is new material and of course we will be seeing him at some stage in the near future," Yates said.

"We will then consider what he has got to say and then consider the necessity to see Mr Coulson. But at some stage I would imagine we would be seeing Mr Coulson in some capacity."