Rupert Murdoch and his son James have bowed to pressure from MPs and agreed to give evidence next week to a Commons committee investigating the phone-hacking scandal.

A News Corporation spokesman said: “We are in the process of writing to the select committee with the intention that Mr James Murdoch and Mr Rupert Murdoch will attend next Tuesday’s meeting.”

Earlier the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee announced it was issuing summonses for the two men to appear on Tuesday after they had said they were unavailable to appear on that date. The decision that they will now give evidence – on the final day before the Commons breaks for the summer – was welcomed by committee chairman John Whittingdale.

“It will be the first time that Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch, and indeed, Rebekah Brooks will have answered questions about this,” he said. “They will be appearing before a parliamentary committee so I would hope they would take it seriously and they will give us the answers that not just we want to hear but I think an awful lot of people will want to hear.”

Earlier, the Leader of the Commons, Sir George Young, confirmed that – in theory at least– the two men could be fined or even imprisoned if they defied the summonses issued by the committee.

The News Corp chairman and chief executive and his son, who is the organisation’s deputy chief operating officer, will appear alongside Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International, which published News of the World.

In a letter to the committee Mrs Brooks warned that the ongoing Scotland Yard investigation into the phone-hacking scandal “may prevent me from discussing these matters in details”.

Home Secretary Theresa May has written to Sir Paul to get “the full picture” regarding Wallis, a Home Office spokesman said.

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