London police: Embarrassed we hired NOTW editor

Last Updated 9:23 a.m. ET

The departing head of London's police force said it is "embarrassing" that a former editor of News of the World worked for a time as a PR consultant for the Metropolitan Police, now that the scale of the phone hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch's newspaper is now known.

Speaking before a committee of the House of Commons, Sir Paul Stephenson told MPs he didn't reveal a "very minor contract" that he and other senior Met officers signed with Wallis to try and improve the force's public image, because he had "no reason to connect Wallis with phone hacking" when he was hired for the part-time job in 2009.

Stephenson maintains that Wallis was paid for a "minor role" to give the Met advice, and that he saw no reason to disclose the contract to officials as he saw no conflict of interest.

The senior policeman said he only learned of Wallis' connection to the hacking scandal this year.

Wallis was arrested last week.

Speaking before a committee of the House of Commons, Sir Paul Stephenson defended his record, and said he resigned because the stories and allegations were becoming a distraction from his job.

Stephenson announced his resignation Sunday.

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Stephenson said changes in the way the police interacts with the media are already being made.

"I do think we will need to handle the media differently in the future, much more transparently," he said.

He did say today that 10 of 45 press officers for the force are former employees of Murdoch's News International.

Stephenson also told MP Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, that he had no new information on the death of Sean Hoare, the ex-News of the World journalist who blew the whistle on phone hacking to The News York Times in a magazine article published last September. Hoare was found dead in his London apartment Monday, and police initially suspected no foul play.

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Also appearing before the Committee today was Scotland Yard's head of public affairs Dick Fedorcio, who described his process in hiring Wallis, who was hired part-time in 2009 to help fill in for his deputy who was out on sick leave.

He said he never had a discussion with Wallis about phone hacking - knowing that a prior investigation into hacking with Wallis' former paper had been closed.

He also said he did not know that Assistant Police Chief John Yates - the official who decided two years ago not to reopen police inquiries into phone hacking and police bribery by tabloid journalists, on the belief that there was no new evidence to consider - had been a close friend of Wallis' as far back as 1998.

Britain's Independent Police Complaints Commission is also looking into the phone hacking and police bribery claims, including one that Yates inappropriately helped get a job for Wallis' daughter.

"I think," Fedorcio said of the Yard's hiring decisions, "with hindsight a lot of things would have been done differently,"

When asked if Neil Wallis would have been hired had he known what he knows now, Fedorcio replied, "Certainly not."

Following Fedorcio's testimony, Assistant Police Chief John Yates disputed that he had conducted due diligence on Wallis' background at the time of his hiring, as others have suggested.

He also said he was not responsible for making a hiring decision on Wallis' daughter, saying he acted merely as "a post box for CVs."

He said there are frequent hires for part-time and short-time work, owing to a "huge" turnover of staff, with some hires staying on to become full-time employees. "It was not unusual," he said, that sometimes potential hires were referenced by other employees and social acquaintances. "I'm sure it's the same at the House of Commons," he said.

He also downplayed his friendship with Wallis, stressing that they are not "bosom buddies."

Yates also spoke of the power of hindsight regarding the hiring of Walls: "Had I known then what I know now," he said, "I would have made a completely different decision, and none of us would be where we are today."

Follow CBSNews.com's live blog of today's Parliamentary hearings with testimony by Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks, and former London police officials Paul Stephenson and John Yates.

You can also watch the hearings live on CBSNews.com.