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Media baron Rupert Murdoch’s News International needs “root and branch change,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday in the wake of accusations that the company illegally eavesdropped on thousands of people and bribed police to get confidential information.

The prime minister also defended his decision to hire Andy Coulson, who had worked at the News of the World tabloid at the center of the unfolding scandal. Cameron, who hired Coulson as his spokesman, said Coulson assured him he had done nothing wrong.

“If I was lied to, if the police were lied to, if the select committee were lied to, it would be a matter of deep regret and a matter for a criminal prosecution,” Cameron said.

The prime minister’s remarks came in a raucous appearance before parliament.

Condemnation of Murdoch came from many British politicians a day after a senior American senator warned that any Murdoch journalists who illegally eavesdropped on 9/11 victims would face “severe” consequences.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said reported hacking by journalists at Murdoch’s News Corporation was “offensive and a serious breach of journalistic ethics,” as well as a potential violation of U.S. law.