- David Cameron will be quizzed at a media ethics inquiry he set up
- He's under fire for hiring a former News of the World editor
- The testimony comes a day after a former Murdoch executive appears in court
- Former PM Gordon Brown lashes out at Rupert Murdoch at the inquiry
London (CNN) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to be grilled Thursday by an inquiry he himself set up in response to phone hacking at the News of the World, the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid that shut down over illegal eavesdropping.
Cameron is set to testify all day at the Leveson Inquiry, a wide-ranging probe into media ethics and behavior currently examining the relationship between the media and politicians.
In April, Cameron told politicians in the House of Commons: "I think we all, on both sides of this house, did a bit too much cozying up to Mr. Murdoch."
Cameron's judgment in hiring former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications director has also been called into question.
Coulson resigned from the Downing Street role last year when police began a new phone hacking investigation, saying it had become a distraction. He quit the News of the World after two employees were jailed over phone hacking in 2007 but denies knowing of wrongdoing while he was in charge.
Coulson was this month arrested and charged with perjury over court testimony about phone hacking, according to Britain's Press Association news agency.
His testimony comes a day after a former top Murdoch executive, Rebekah Brooks, appeared in court in connection with a separate police investigation into hacking.
She, her husband and four other people are charged with trying to obstruct the investigation.
Two former prime ministers, Gordon Brown and John Major, testified at Leveson Inquiry this week.
Brown lashed out Monday at Murdoch, his son and his British newspapers, raising the stakes in a highly charged and public battle between the two men.
The conflict could affect whether Murdoch keeps control of the British part of his media empire.
The former British leader flatly denied the most sensational claim that Murdoch made when he testified at the media ethics inquiry this year: that Brown had "declared war" on Murdoch's company when a top-selling Murdoch newspaper endorsed the Conservative party rather than Brown's Labour party in 2009.
"This conversation never took place. I am shocked and surprised" that Murdoch said it had when he was grilled at the inquiry in April, Brown said Monday. "There was no such conversation."
Brown repeatedly insisted that there was "no evidence" of the phone call, basing his assertion on phone records from his office when he was prime minister.
The media tycoon said in April that Brown had phoned him and threatened him when the Sun newspaper pulled its support for Labour and switched to the Conservatives.
"He said, 'Well, your company has made -- declared war on my government, and we have no alternative but to declare war on your company.' And I said, 'I'm sorry about that Gordon, thank you for calling.' End of subject," the News Corp. chairman testified.
After Brown essentially accused Murdoch of lying under oath, News Corp. said its chairman stood by his testimony.
If British media regulators feel Murdoch is not a "fit and proper person" to hold a British broadcasting license, he could theoretically be stripped of control of British Sky Broadcasting, a lucrative part of his worldwide operations.
Murdoch's British operations are under scrutiny after revelations of widespread phone hacking by people working for his newspapers. Police and lawmakers are conducting separate inquiries into the scandal, separately from the Leveson Inquiry.
Brooks, the former top executive of Murdoch's British newspaper group, appeared briefly in court Wednesday, charged with obstructing a police investigation into phone hacking and bribery.
She spoke only to confirm her address during the eight-minute hearing and was ordered to appear in Southwark Crown Court on June 22.
Her husband, Charles, and four current or former News International employees also face charges and appeared with her, becoming the first defendants to appear in court in connection with the wide-ranging police investigation sparked by allegations of illegal eavesdropping.
The defendants, who include Brooks' former personal assistant, driver and bodyguard, were ordered not to communicate with each other directly, except for Brooks and her husband.
Cheryl Carter, the personal assistant, was also instructed to surrender her passport.
The six were charged last month with perverting the course of justice.
They are accused of plotting to remove seven boxes of documents from News International offices and hide computers and documents from police.
When she was charged in May, Brooks blasted British prosecutors, calling the case "an expensive sideshow."
Brooks said she is "baffled" and angered by the decision to charge "those closest to me."
"One day, the details of this case will emerge, and people will see today as nothing more than an expensive sideshow -- a waste of public money as a result of an unjust and weak decision," she told reporters outside her lawyer's office.
Charles Brooks said that his wife is the victim of a "witch hunt" and that the charges against him and others are "an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which is to ratchet up the pressure on my wife."
Cameron established the Leveson Inquiry after British public anger at the News of the World about the hacking of voice mail messages of a missing teenage girl who turned out to have been murdered.
The case of Milly Dowler came on top of apologies from the tabloid for the hacking of the phones of celebrities and politicians, and proved to be the last straw for the paper, which was shut down in July.
The inquiry is intended to explore media ethics in Britain more widely, alongside police investigations into phone hacking, e-mail hacking and police bribery by people working for Murdoch's British newspapers.
CNN's Laura Smith-Spark and Bharati Naik contributed to this report.
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