A BURY MP was paid £15,000 by the News of the World's publishers in relation to phone hacking.

The payment to Bury South MP Ivan Lewis was revealed in a Government document which show payments made to Parliamentary representatives in connection with their roles.

One entry for Mr Lewis reads: "On June 4, 2015, I received £15,100 from News Group Newspapers.This was in settlement of an action in relation to phone hacking."

The payment was registered on July 29, 2015 but has only been made public with the release of the register.

It is understood that Mr Lewis is not allowed to discuss the details of the incident as part of the settlement deal.

A source with knowledge of the case said that Mr Lewis became aware that his phone might have been hacked when he was reading a book written by private investigator Glen Mulcaire about phone hacking and spotted his own name.

The book, called The News Machine: Hacking, the Untold Story, provides an insight into how News of the World journalists hacked mobile phone voicemail messages of celebrities and public figures.

In 2012, the Met police uncovered documents suggesting there could be more than 4,700 victims.

The News of the World was closed as a result of the scandal and there was particular outrage that the publication's staff had hacked the voicemail of missing teenager Milly Dowler.

The source said: "It is important to be clear that we do not know whether News Group Newspapers hacked Mr Lewis's voicemail messages or listened to them, whether they attempted to and failed or whether it was just on a list of possible people to hack."

In 2011, News Group Newspapers invited phone-hacking victims to apply to it for compensation and more than 250 people did so.

According to court records, among the victims were publicist Max Clifford, Prince Harry, Prince William and the Prince of Wales.

Seven journalists or private investigators were convicted of data protection offences in relation to phone hacking.

Mr Lewis, of Labour, sometimes contributed opinion articles to the News of the World.

In 2008, he wrote an article criticising the then Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Then a health minister in Brown's Cabinet, Mr Lewis said that that Brown was losing touch with voters' concerns and would lose the next General Election unless he made an effort to understand "the majority who work hard, play by the rules and are feeling squeezed."

News Group Newspapers did not wish to comment.