Allegations that the former prime minister Gordon Brown was the victim of systematic hacking and "blagging" have upped the stakes in the News International scandal still further. Here are some of Tuesday's key quotes:
• "I'm shocked, I'm genuinely shocked, to find that this happened because of their links with criminals, known criminals, who were undertaking this activity, hired by investigators with the Sunday Times. I just can't understand this – if I, with all the protection and all the defences and all the security that a chancellor of the exchequer or a prime minister, am so vulnerable to unscrupulous tactics, to unlawful tactics, methods that have been used in the way we have found, what about the ordinary citizen? What about the person, like the family of Milly Dowler, who are in the most desperate of circumstances, the most difficult occasions in their lives, in huge grief and then they find that they are totally defenceless in this moment of greatest grief from people who are employing these ruthless tactics with links to known criminals." – Gordon Brown reacts to allegations that his family were targeted by News International journalists.
• "In tears. Your son is now going to be broadcast across the media. Sarah and I were incredibly upset about it. We were thinking about his long-term future. We were thinking about our family. But there's nothing that you can do about it. You're in public life. And this story appears. You don't know how it's appeared. I've not questioned how it's appeared. I've not made any allegations about how it's appeared. I've not made any claims about [how it appeared]. But the fact is it did appear. And it did appear in the Sun newspaper." – Brown on how he and his wife reacted to the news that the Sun had obtained his son's medical records.
• "I find it quite incredible that a supposedly reputable organisation made its money, produced its commercial results, at the expense of ordinary people by using known criminals. That is now what has got to be investigated." – Brown on what must happen next.
• "When the record of my time as prime minister is looked at – and all the papers will be there for people to see – they will show that we stood up to News International, that we refused to support their commercial ambitions when we thought they were against the public interest." – Brown on suggestions that his government was too close to News International.
"From the methods I know that are used, and the impact it has on your phone, your pin number, I am 99% certain my phone was hacked during a period of 2005-06. Who by, I don't know. The records don't exist any more." – Metropolitan police assistant commissioner John Yates, who decided not to reopen investigations into hacking in 2009, giving evidence to the Commons home affairs select committee.
"I can assure you all that I have never lied and all the information that I've provided to this committee has been given in good faith," Yates told the MPs. He added that his decision not to pursue hacking allegations in 2009 was a "poor decision", saying: "We didn't have the information we should have done."
• "I think it's terrible what happened to Gordon. I think it's disgusting, and I think it just adds to the long list of outrages that we've seen practised by certain newspapers and I think it reinforces the need for comprehensive action to be taken. There can be nothing good about this crisis but one thing that can come out of it is a determination among politicians, journalists and others to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again." – the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, gives Sky News his reaction to the situation.
• "John Yates is in charge of counter-terrorism. He is doing a very good job in that role. I have confidence in John Yates." – the home secretary, Theresa May.
• "If I'd have ordered a public inquiry at the time, I'd have probably been castigated because in the runup to a general election people would have said it was an attempt to get at Andy Coulson who'd been appointed by Cameron. So you can't take today's knowledge and just apply it retrospectively. You have to look at the information that was available at the time." – the former Labour home secretary Alan Johnson tells Sky News why he did not set up an inquiry into phone hacking.
• "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." – News International reacts to the Brown allegations.
• "The latest revelations that the details, personal details of a former prime minister, were obtained, the fact that police officers may have been involved in protecting members of the royal family and then selling that information on to journalists – these are all very serious allegations, the most serious allegations, certainly this committee has seen over the last few years." – Keith Vaz, chair of the Commons home affairs committee.
