Gordon Brown 'targeted by Sunday Times'

[dutchman]

The Sunday Times is alleged to have illegally targeted the personal information of Gordon Brown when he was chancellor, the BBC has found.



Documents and a phone recording suggest "blagging" was used to obtain private financial and property details.

The Browns also fear medical records relating to their son Fraser, whom the Sun revealed in 2006 had cystic fibrosis, may have been obtained.

News International said it would investigate the claims.

In a statement, the company said: "We note the allegations made today concerning the reporting of matters relating to Gordon Brown. So that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information concerning these allegations is provided to us."

The company, a subsidiary of News Corporation, owns the Sun and the Sunday Times, and also owned the News of the World which was shut last week amid allegations of phone-hacking and illegal payments to police officers.

Addressing MPs in the the Commons, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt described blagging as an "awful" practice and said the judge-led inquiry into phone-hacking would look at all illegal methods newspapers may have used in the past to obtain information.