Durham Police are launching a review of the Metropolitan Police's phone-hacking inquiry, on the orders of the new commissioner.
"The Metropolitan Police Service has asked an outside police service to conduct a review of Operation Weeting [the phone hacking inquiry]," Scotland Yard said on Thursday.
The review was requested the new Met chief, Bernard Hogan-Howe. Speaking to the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) he said the force's relationship with the media had "gone too far" and called for a reconfiguring of police - media relations.
In his speech at London's City Hall, Hogan-Howe explained that henceforth new guidelines would be issued for police officers associating with journalists:
"I don't think anyone is going to argue that the police service should not have a relationship with the media, but it's clear that this relationship needs to have a resetting of the boundaries between us and how we manage that interface."
The review will be led by Durham Chief Constable Jon Stoddart, who will report his findings to the Met in "due course".