Rupert and James Murdoch will face MPs on Tuesday

Rupert Murdoch and his son James will now give evidence to the the culture media and sport select committee this coming Tuesday, News Corporation has confirmed.

Both the News Corp chief and his son, who is chairman of News International, earlier today declined a request to appear before the committee.

They were then summonsed by the deputy serjeant-at-arms however, and a spokesperson for News Corp confirmed this afternoon that the company is "in the process of writing to the select committee to confirm that they intend to attend".

John Whittingdale, the chairman of the committee, wrote to the Murdochs and News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks yesterday to request they give evidence. Brooks agreed to appear before the committee but Rupert Murdoch said that he would only attend after he had given evidence to the judge-led public inquiry announced by David Cameron earlier this week.

James Murdoch said that he would attend, but could not do so until a later date in August.

But Whittingdale said that he was particularly "anxious" that James Murdoch attend, and said that to wait until August was "unjustifiable".

The deputy serjeant-at-arms was then sent to deliver summons to the News International offices at Wapping demanding that the trio of executives attend. Had they still not agreed to do so they could possibly have been judged to be in contempt of parliament and faced fines or imprisonment.

Brooks' reply to the initial invitation warned the committee that due to the ongoing police inquiry into phone hacking and police corruption at News International titles, she would not be able to discuss the details to avoid prejudicing the investigation.

She said: "Given that we are in the midst of an investigation, and we do not want to prejudice it, I hope you will understand why we feel it would not be appropriate to respond to such questions at present in order to be consistent with [the] police's approach, and that as a result this may prevent me from discussing these matters in detail."

The police inquiry is likely to make questioning Brooks and the Murdochs difficult for the members of the committee.

Speaking at the Institute for Government this morning, Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said that the executives should "do the decent thing" and agree to appear before the committee.

"It is immensely important as a matter of principle that they should make themselves available for questioning," Clegg said.

"When you're in that position of power you're also accountable to the millions of people who consume your products.

"You can't hide away from this level of public anguish and anger and indeed interest."

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