Rebekah Brooks will give evidence to MPs as Clegg appeals to Murdoch

Rebekah has agreed to give evidence to MPs on phone hacking - but Rupert Murdoch has refused, it was revealed today.

News International chief executive Mrs Brooks will appear before a Parliamentary committee on Tuesday. The company's chairman, James Murdoch, will also be questioned on a day to be decided.

While Rupert Murdoch signalled that he would not talk to the committee, he was prepared to take part in an inquiry into the crisis engulfing his empire. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg urged the tycoon to show he is accountable for what happened by agreeing to a grilling about the "big questions".

Mr Clegg said: "If they have any shred of sense of responsibility or accountability for their position of power, then they should come and explain themselves before a select committee."

As American citizens, it was believed the Murdochs could not be summoned to answer MPs' questions, but Mrs Brooks, the British former editor of the News of the World and the Sun, could always have been ordered to do so.

The culture select committee met this morning to decide whether to formally summon her. Tory MP Louise Mensch said the Murdochs should not run away. "It would show a little bit of leadership, it would be the first step in lancing this giant boil," she said.

Parliamentary powers are set out in the so-called Bible of MPs' proceedings, Erskine-May. It states: "Failure to attend a committee when formally summoned is a contempt and if a witness fails to appear... his conduct is reported to the House."

It suggests foreign citizens may be treated in the same way. "There would appear to be no bar to their being summoned if they are present within the jurisdiction of Parliament."

Labour MP Chris Bryant said: "If Murdoch refuses to appear he is effectively saying goodbye to Britain." If News International executives do not attend, he added, "the House as the high court of Parliament should summon them and sent the Serjeant at Arms to escort them to the House."

If the Commons votes to hold a person in contempt, the Speaker can issue a warrant for them to appear, a power used in 1992 to make the Maxwell brothers give evidence about pension funds plundered by their late father.

Anyone who still refuses to co-operate can be ordered to apologise but these powers are rarely used.

Mr Clegg criticised senior figures at News International for failing to take responsibility for the abuses, saying: "It cannot be right - what appears to be the case - that a number of journalists and people in the News of the World office lose their jobs, and people higher up the food chain, so far at least, are not taking any accountability at all."