British MP Outed as Bisexual Following Phone Hacking

As part of an ongoing investigation into the ethics of some British news organizations, most notably News International, a member of Parliament told an inquiry panel that he was outed as bisexual in The Sun after the tabloid hacked his phone.

According to Australia's The Age, Simon Hughes testified Tuesday that he received a call in 2006 from a Sun journalist who requested a meeting about a private matter. During the meeting, Hughes said, the reporter "shared with me the fact that The Sun had come across information which was records of telephone calls made by me."

At the time, Hughes was the front-runner for the top position in the Liberal Democrats.

The paper then published a story with the headline "Hughes: I've Had Gay Sex" that featured statements including "In an exclusive admission to The Sun, [Hughes] apologized for twice denying he is homosexual."

In his testimony to the panel, the MP said The Sun's story was not an accurate portrayal of the interview, and that he later learned from police that his voice mails had been hacked.

Hughes, who recently settled a claim with News International for PS45,000, said that if authorities had reacted differently in 2006, "a lot of the illegal action might have been shut down and a lot of the people who are now known to be victims might not be victims or might not have suffered as much."

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