The British establishment’s ties to Rupert Murdoch came under renewed scrutiny on Sunday as he made a second public apology for phone hacking and warned those responsible had “no place to hide”.

The media baron’s latest attempt to stem the crisis caused by the scandal-hit News of the World appeared to fall on deaf ears, however, as opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband called for his British empire to be dismantled.

Mr Miliband told The Observer that politicians should look at the situation, saying: “I think it’s unhealthy because that amount of power in one person’s hands has clearly led to abuses of power within his organisation.”

In the past week, Mr Murdoch has closed the News of the World, abandoned his offer for control of pay-TV giant BSkyB and let go two of his top executives, Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton, in a bid to control the crisis.

But still the scandal grows and Mr Murdoch has during the weekend taken out full-page adverts in most of Britain’s national newspapers apologising for the row.

After an ad saying “We are sorry” and signed by Mr Murdoch appeared on Saturday, another version entitled Putting right what’s gone wrong appeared in Sunday’s newspapers on behalf of his British newspaper division, News International.

It promised to fully cooperate with police investigating the hacking, provide compensation for those targeted and clean up its act in future, adding: “There are no excuses and there should be no place to hide.”

Mr Murdoch will give evidence to British lawmakers today alongside his son and heir apparent, James, and Ms Brooks.

They are expected to face a tough grilling not just about phone hacking, but also whether they sanctioned a cover-up, and whether journalists at their newspapers had also paid police officers for information.

Although the scandal has threatened to spread to the United States, where the FBI is investigating claims that Americans had their phones hacked, it came back to haunt the British establishment once again this weekend.

Prime Minister David Cameron was forced on the defensive after it emerged that he personally had 26 meetings in 15 months with key figures in Murdoch’s News Corp. and its British newspaper division, News International. Mr Cameron hosted Ms Brooks and James Murdoch at his country retreat, Chequers.

Foreign Secretary William Hague defended him on Saturday, saying he was “not embarrassed by it in any way”, although he pointed to the judge-led inquiry Mr Cameron has set up to examine the ties between politicians and senior media figures.

Mr Hague also defended Mr Cameron’s decision to invite Andy Coulson, his former media chief and another one-time editor of the News of the World tabloid, to Chequers in March, two months after Mr Coulson quit Downing Street.

Mr Coulson was arrested last week in connection with the scandal over alleged hacking and payments to police, one of nine people held since police reopened their investigations in January. He denies the charges.

News International’s ties with the police have also emerged in more detail, as Scotland Yard revealed that Commissioner Paul Stephenson met its executives and editors 18 times socially between 2006 and 2010. It was Scotland Yard which investigated the first allegations of phone hacking in 2005, and which reopened the probe amid criticism that it had failed to unearth information on thousands of victims.

Key events in phone hacking scandal

July 4: Claims emerge that the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was hacked by a private investigator working for the News of the World after she went missing in 2002.

Her family’s solicitor, Mark Lewis, says signs that her voicemail messages had been listened to offered her parents Bob and Sally false hope she was still alive.

July 5: Ms Brooks, chief executive officer of News of the world publisher News International, says she is “appalled and shocked” that Milly’s phone was hacked. It emerges that the parents of murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman have been contacted by detectives investigating phone hacking.

Motor giant Ford becomes the first of a series of major companies to suspend advertising with the Sunday tabloid.

July 6: Sources confirm several families of people who died in the July 7, 2005 London bombings have been warned they may have been targeted for phone hacking, while lawyers claim relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan may also have been victims.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson says News International gave Scotland Yard documents indicating “inappropriate” payments were made to officers. Rupert Murdoch describes the allegations as “deplorable and unacceptable” as he backs Ms Brooks to continue at the helm of News International.

July 7: News International chairman James Murdoch announces that the News of the World will close after one final edition.

Scotland Yard detectives leading the phone hacking investigation say they have identified more than 4,000 potential victims.

July 8: Former Downing Street communications chief and ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson is arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption.

The News of the World’s former royal editor, Clive Goodman, who was jailed in 2007 for phone hacking, and an unnamed 63-year-old man are arrested over allegations of corruption. All three are released on bail until October.

Mr Cameron piles further pressure on Ms Brooks, suggesting she should have quit.

July 10: The final edition of the News of the World signs off with the front-page headline: “Thank you and goodbye”, as the paper admits to readers: “Quite simply we lost our way.”

Rupert Murdoch arrives in the UK to take personal charge of the crisis and faces calls from Labour leader Ed Miliband to suspend his plans to take full control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB while police investigate alleged phone hacking and police bribes.

July 11: It emerges that emails handed to detectives suggest the News of the World paid police protection officers around £1,000 for the contact details of senior members of the royal household.

Scotland Yard accuses News International of “undermining” its investigation into claims journalists bribed corrupt officers by leaking details to the media. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown claims that other News International newspapers illegally obtained private information from his legal file and his baby son’s medical records – something the company strongly denies.

July 12: The Government backs calls from Labour and the Lib Dems for Rupert Murdoch to drop his BSkyB takeover bid.

But former Met deputy assistant commissioner Peter Clarke, who oversaw the original inquiry, claims News International lied and tried to “thwart” Scotland Yard’s 2006 investigation.

July 13: News Corporation, the parent company of News International, withdraws its BSkyB takeover bid, saying it was too difficult to proceed in the climate of furore over the phone hacking scandal.

Mr Cameron names Lord Justice Leveson as the chairman of the independent hacking inquiry, which will look into the ethics and culture of the British media as well as the specific claims about phone hacking and illegal payments to police at the News of the World.

July 14: Rupert Murdoch and his son James bow to pressure and agree to join Ms Brooks in giving evidence to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

Mr Murdoch senior tells the Wall Street Journal he will challenge the “total lies” told about News Corporation when he appears before MPs on the following Tuesday. Former News of the World executive editor Neil Wallis is arrested on suspicion of phone hacking, putting Scotland Yard under pressure to explain why it employed him as a PR consultant in 2009-10.

July 15: Ms Brooks announces she has resigned as chief executive of News International. Tom Mockridge, the boss of News Corp’s Italian satellite broadcasting arm, is named as her successor.

Rupert Murdoch meets with Milly’s family and apologises for the hacking of the murdered schoolgirl’s phone by the News of the World.

Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott calls for the resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson.

It emerges that Mr Coulson stayed at Chequers as a guest of the Prime Minister in March, several weeks after he resigned as Downing Street director of communications. Ms Brooks also stayed there twice last year and James Murdoch was a guest in November, it is revealed. Ms Brooks also met Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in February.

News Corporation veteran Les Hinton resigns from his roles as chief executive officer of Dow Jones and Co., and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. He was head of News International from 1995 to 2007.

It emerges the actor Jude Law is suing The Sun newspaper for alleged phone hacking.

July 16: Rupert Murdoch uses adverts in national newspapers to apologise for the News of the World’s “serious wrongdoings”.

Foreign Secretary William Hague says inviting Mr Coulson to Chequers after his resignation was a “normal, human thing” for Mr Cameron to do.

The Metropolitan Police deny that a stay at a luxury health resort for Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson was arranged by Mr Wallis, who was working as a PR consultant for Champneys at the time.

Scotland Yard says accommodation and food for Sir Paul and his wife was provided by Champneys managing director Stephen Purdew, a family friend of the Commissioner.

Mr Wallis denies any involvement in the stay in a statement issued through his solicitor.

July 17: News International places adverts in national Sunday newspapers declaring there should be “no place to hide” from the police investigation into phone hacking and pledging the organisation is “committed to change”.

Ed Miliband calls for an overhaul of media ownership rules, warning that Rupert Murdoch’s influence on British politics was “dangerous”.

Ms Brooks is arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption after voluntarily attending a London police station for a pre-arranged appointment. She is bailed at approximately midnight.

Sir Paul resigns as Metropolitan Police Commissioner.