He has proved a lightning rod for Labour members of Parliament seeking to attack the government. Members of the Liberal Democratic Party, too, were highly critical of Mr. Coulson when they were in opposition  before they joined the government as part of a coalition with the Conservatives.

Alan Johnson, a former home secretary and now Labour’s chief home-affairs spokesman, reminded the House of Commons on Monday that Chris Huhne, now a member of the cabinet, said before last spring’s election that he found it “extraordinary” that the Conservatives had hired Mr. Coulson, “who, at best, was responsible for a newspaper that was out of control and, at worst, was personally implicated in criminal activity.”

Mr. Johnson was one of a large number of Labour members of Parliament who demanded further investigation into the handling of the matter by Mr. Coulson and by the police. Hundreds of public figures, including celebrities, sports stars and politicians, may have had their phone messages intercepted, but only a small number of them were ever notified by the police.

Chris Bryant, a Labour member of Parliament, called on the government to demand that the police tell all the potential victims that they may have been singled out, and in what way.

Mr. Bryant said that he had been forced to write to the Metropolitan Police himself in an effort to find out if he was “a person of interest to Mr. Mulcaire.” The police said that he had been, and advised him to call his cellphone company, which informed him “that my phone had indeed been interfered with,” Mr. Bryant said.

But rather than pursuing the matter, the authorities let it drop and “have done nothing about it,” he said.