Lawmakers, celebrities targeted in reported phone-hacking scandal: Via The CNN Wire - CNN.com Blogs.

LONDON, England (CNN) — British lawmakers demanded answers Thursday after a newspaper reported that a U.K. tabloid illegally hacked the phones of thousands of public figures including Gwyneth Paltrow, George Michael and Elle MacPherson.

The commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police said he asked his assistant to look into the allegations and determine whether to investigate.

It comes after The Guardian newspaper reported Thursday the cell phones of “several thousand public figures” were hacked into by reporters and staff of the News of the World tabloid during one month in 2006.

The public figures named by the Guardian as victims of the phone hackings include lawmaker John Prescott, who was then the deputy prime minister; Tessa Jowell, who was the secretary of state for culture, responsible for the media; and London Mayor Boris Johnson, who at the time was the Conservative Party spokesman on higher education.

The Guardian said actress Gwyneth Paltrow, model Elle MacPherson, actor Jude Law, singer George Michael, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, celebrity PR agent Max Clifford, and actors union Equity were also victims of the hacking.

“The allegations — the enormity of it — is just unbelievable,” Prescott told the BBC on Thursday morning.

“I think it is outrageous,” former Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who was not named among the alleged victims, told the BBC. “I think we do need action immediately.”

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