Today's showdown between the Commons culture, media and sport committee and Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks is an explosive way to end the parliamentary session, but who are the MPs who will do the questioning?
Chair: John Whittingdale (Con, Maldon)
An experienced right-winger, aide to two former Conservative leaders, John Whittingdale had a varied front bench career for four years under Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard, before leaving to take on the chairmanship of the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport in 2005. He was elected unopposed to continue in the post in 2010.
He was political secretary to Margaret Thatcher for her last three years in power, and stayed with her as her private secretary after her overthrow, until selected to succeed John Wakeham in the now altered seat of Colchester South and Maldon in 1992. He was awarded the OBE in 1990.
Tom Watson (Lab, West Bromwich East)
Presenting him with the House Magazine select committee of the year award earlier this month, Tory David Davis said Watson proved "a select committee member can turn the world upside down".
Having doggedly pursued the issue of phone hacking at News International, Watson's questioning of the witnesses is expected to be the highlight of the session.
A close ally of Gordon Brown, whose first resignation from the Government helped to destabilise Tony Blair, Tom Watson was described as leaving a sinking ship when he resigned for the second time in June 2009.
His unexpected resignation as Cabinet Office minister, revealed just ahead of the expected reshuffle, seemed a further blow to the beleaguered Brown. But he agreed to continue to advise the prime minister from the back benches until the general election.
Louise Mensch (Con, Corby)
The archetypal ‘new Conservative woman’ from the top of David Cameron’s ‘A-list’, Louise Mensch (formerly Bagshawe) is the glamorous ‘chick-lit’ novelist who defeated the rather colourless and expenses-troubled Phil Hope to win Corby back for the Conservatives for the first time since 1997.
Her first published work was for the Roman Catholic newspaper The Tablet at the age of fourteen. The same year she joined the Conservative Party. She was also named young poet of the year in 1987.
Mensch has said that Rupert Murdoch's appearance in front of the committee could be the "first step in lancing this giant boil".
She has also warned that while News International have questions to answers they are not the only organisation involved in hacking.
Therese Coffey (Con, Suffolk Coastal)
A long-time grass roots activist and persistent candidate who was many times the bridesmaid, Therese Coffey went to Mars and back before finally landing a safe seat to succeed John Gummer and become Suffolk’s first woman MP.
She joined the Conservative Party in 1988, inspired by Margaret Thatcher and in protest at the Militant Derek Hatton’s activities in Liverpool. She was active in the Conservative Students.
Damian Collins (Con, Folkestone and Hythe)
One of a trio of Conservative MPs called Damian, all Oxford-educated and all Roman Catholic, Damian Collins is a young party thinker and former advertising executive regarded as ministerial material.
Selected in 2006 to succeed Michael Howard in one of the safest Tory seats, he attracted some criticism for being white and male, after he defeated two women, fellow members of David Cameron’s ‘A-list’ of favoured candidates.
He worked for M&C Saatchi for nearly ten years, setting up a company within the group specialising in social and political campaigns. He joined Lexington Communications in 2008, leaving two years later to fight the election campaign.
He has appeared in several lists of people to look out for among the new generation of Conservatives, even modelling clothes for Esquire magazine. In 2009 he founded the Conservative Arts and Creative Industries Network.
Philip Davis (Con, Shipley)
Influenced by Margaret Thatcher, whose portrait hangs on his office wall, he joined the Conservative Party at the age of sixteen. His political hero is Norman Tebbit and his business hero, naturally, is Archie Norman.
He says he has no ambitions to be a minister; he just wants to be a backbench MP, and to “make a difference”. He supported David Davis in the 2005 Tory leadership election.
It is a safe bet that he will get his wish. One of the irreconcilables to David Cameron’s repositioning of the party, he objected to the A list of favoured candidates, saying he did not believe in the odds being stacked in favour of one particular race or gender
A sworn foe of political correctness, he introduced a Bill to outlaw affirmative action on grounds of race or gender and to repeal the Act which exempted parliamentary selections from the Sex Discrimination Act. It has minimal chance of success.
Paul Farrelly (Con, Newcastle-under-Lyme)
A rugby-playing former banker and leading financial journalist, Paul Farrelly succeeded Llin Golding in 2001 in what was then a very safe seat.
But the Labour majority of more than 17,000 in 1997 had been reduced to just 1,552 by 2010.he marked himself out as a potential rebel almost immediately, taking part in the revolt of nearly 120 Labour MPs against the government's attempt to remove two select committee chairmen. He went on to vote against the Iraq War.
He has been a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee since 2005 and is a member of the NUJ.
A member of two Rugby clubs, in 2010 he tackled a man to the ground during a loose ruck following an altercation in the parliamentary Sports and Social Club. He said it was entirely in self defence.
Alan Keen (Lab, Feltham and Heston)
In 2005 Keen was one of the first to call for the resignation of the former ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission after the publication of his memoirs, which included unflattering comments about Ministers and officials. Sir Christopher was unruffled.
He served briefly on the Deregulation and the Education Select Committees, and has been a member of the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport since 1997. He is chairman of the All-Party Football Group and led its inquiry into English football and its finances.
Adrian Sanders (Lib Dem, Torbay)
Adrian Sanders won Torbay by just twelve votes in 1997, ousting the well-known Tory Rupert Allason at his second attempt. There was some poetic justice, because he had previously been cheated of a seat in the European Parliament in 1994, narrowly defeated by the intervention of a "Literal Democrat".
He was one of the twenty-five MPs who said they would refuse to serve under Charles Kennedy after the admission of his drink problem. He conducted an online poll on his website on the leadership contest, and came out in support of Sir Menzies Campbell.
He was appointed Deputy Chief Whip, a post he held until 2010.He accepted the coalition, but has become an outspoken critic of the current Liberal Democrat leadership, and voted against the increase in university tuition fees.
He emphasises that the Conservatives are his party’s “natural enemies” and accused the leadership of being out of touch with its grassroots supporters.
Jim Sheridan
(Lab, Paisley & Renfrewshire North)
One of the few remaining Labour MPs with a background in manual work, Jim Sheridan was an assiduous and loyalist backbencher throughout his first Parliament, and was rewarded with the junior job of team Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministry of Defence in 2005.
But his loyalty cracked a little over a year later and he resigned in August 2006 in protest at the Prime Minister’s handling of the war in Lebanon. He objected to UK backing of the American stance on the conflict, and was particularly concerned about the use of Prestwick Airport in Scotland by the US to ferry military supplies to Israel.
A month later he was among the seventeen MPs from the 2001 intake, including four Scottish members, who signed a letter to Tony Blair urging him to go. Blair was forced to state publicly that he would be gone within a year.
He shot to public attention in 2004, when with the backing of his union he introduced a Private Member’s Bill for the control and licensing of gangmasters.
A month later twenty-three cockle-pickers were drowned in Morecambe Bay, and the government quickly threw its weight behind the Bill. It became law in July 2004.
Cathy Jamieson (Lab, Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Jamieson was supposed to join the committee today. But a Conservative MP objected to her appointment last night in the Commons - perhaps in retaliation to Labour backbenchers objecting to Lib Dem David Laws joining a different committee.
After more than ten years as a big fish in the Scottish Parliament, and after standing unsuccessfully for the Labour leadership at Holyrood, Cathy Jamieson decided to try her luck in the Westminster pond.
Chosen from a women-only list to succeed the former Defence Secretary Des Browne on his retirement from politics, she increased the Labour majority with a swing of 3.5 per cent from the SNP.
She was deputy leader of the Labour MSPs for eight years, was briefly acting leader after the resignation of Wendy Alexander in 2008. She ran her leadership campaign on a ticket of reconnecting with the left among Labour supporters, but lost out to Iain Gray. She is to stand down from the Scottish Parliament in 2011.
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