Cameron cuts Africa trip short amid widening political crisis

David Cameron, Britain's increasingly embattled prime minister, said he was cutting short a trip to Africa and ordered an emergency session of Parliament upon his return, amid the mounting political fallout from the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

A second top Scotland Yard official, John Yates, resigned Monday, on the heels of Scotland Yard chief Paul Stephenson's resignation Sunday. Also arrested Sunday in Britain was former News of the World editor and senior Murdoch News Corp executive Rebekah Brooks, a close Cameron friend and neighbor.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, speaking at a press conference Monday, called the resignations of Stephenson and Yates "regrettable" but the "right move." But reports indicate that Yates, who had served as the London Metropolitan Police's associate commissioner and counter-terrorism chief, resigned after being notified that he was about to be suspended.

British police have come under fire on three fronts in the scandal:

First, critics have assailed British law enforcement for its failure to mount a proper initial investigation of reports going back to 2006 that a private detective employed by News of the World had illegally hacked into voicemail acounts of private cellphone uses. Recent reports indicate that as many as 3,700 British citizens had been hacked.

Police are also under fire for allegations that some law-enforcement officials took illegal payments from News of the World for confidential information. And finally, Scotland Yard is taking heat for the revelation only last week that in 2009, amid the ongoing investigation of hacking by News of the World, Scotland Yard itself secretly hired a former News of the World editor, Neil Wallis, as a media consultant. (Yates was in charge of doing "due diligence" on the hire, the BBC reported.)

In addition, Stephenson has acknowledged he stayed at a luxury resort for which Wallis provided PR services.

Still, in his resignation comments Sunday, Stephenson insisted that he had done nothing wrong. Instead, he explained that he was resigning because of the "the ongoing speculation and accusations relating to the [Metropolitan Police]'s links with News International at a senior level."

Cameron's political vulnerability in the Murdoch hacking case centers largely around his 2007 decision to hire former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his media adviser. Coulson, who resigned from the Downing Street job in January, was arrested more than a week ago, as new revelations indicated that illegal hacking was a far more common practice at the paper, and that many more senior editors and executives at the company knew of the practice than had been previously acknowledged.

Stephenson also took direct aim at Cameron, comparing Scotland Yard's decision to hire former News editor Wallis as a media consultant with Cameron's decision to hire Coulson as his media adviser. (Wallis had previously served as Coulson's boss at the tabloid.)

Indeed, Stephenson added, "Unlike Mr. Coulson, Mr. Wallis had not resigned from the News of the World or, to the best of my knowledge, been in any way associated with the original phone hacking investigation," Stephenson said.

Britain's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper also drew the link, in comments Monday.

"People will look at this and think it's one rule for the police and another for the prime minister," Cooper said, the UK Guardian reported.

Even London Mayor Johnson, a fellow Conservative Party politician and former newspaper editor, sounded unusually wobbly when asked if Cameron should resign over the widening scandal. "This is a matter you must frankly direct to Number 10 Downing Street, and I suggest you ask them," Johnson said in answer to a question at his Monday press conference, according to the Guardian.

Cameron, for his part, speaking in South Africa Monday, defended his management of the crisis to date.

"We have helped to ensure a large and properly resourced police investigation that can get to the bottom of what happened, and wrongdoing, and we have pretty much demonstrated complete transparency in terms of media contact," Cameron said, the AP reported.