The hacking trial jury has been discharged after failing to reach verdicts on two charges against former No 10 spin doctor Andy Coulson of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office by paying police officers for two royal directories.
Labour MP Chris Bryant has told ITV News that the parent company of the News of the World was "drunk on the amount of power they could wield on politicians".
Mr Bryant said News International had "started to believe that they were above the law".
The Rhondda MP said: "Leave aside the original criminality of hacking people's phones - including the victims of crime who never asked to be brought into the public domain at all - it's the cover-up, the lies.
"'This was just one reporter,' 'This was just one newspaper,' when actually we know it was endemic in the whole of News International."
David Cameron has been criticised by the phone hacking trial judge for discussing Andy Coulson while the jury was still considering charges.
As the phone hacking trial jury is discharged, here are some surprising facts about the eight-month case.