Missing Milly Dowler's voicemail "hacked by News of the World"

[Wilf]

So, I've just got home to discover that Jeremy Hunt acted with scrupulous honesty during the whole BSkyB process while his special advisor (for reasons presumably best known to himself) was desperately trying to get News Corporation to win. Well I never.

... and after this betrayal by his SPAD he ends up saying he didn't want him to resign!

 

[8115]

Yes as if JH could be mistaken for AS ,these people are unbelievable

Did he say that under oath in parliament? Lying under oath is a criminal offence, right?

 

[DaveCinzano]

... and after this betrayal by his SPAD he ends up saying he didn't want him to resign!

Mine Ehre heisst Treue indeed.

 

[agricola]

Did he say that under oath in parliament? Lying under oath is a criminal offence, right?

Lying in the chamber of the Commons isnt a criminal offence, sadly.

 

[8115]

Lying in the chamber of the Commons isnt a criminal offence, sadly.

Hunt is going in front of the inquiry. I fail to see how he can not lie. (Allegedy, in my opinion etc etc).

 

[Gingerman]

Aide to Rupe: "It's not going as well as we'd hoped, sir. I think tomorrow we may have to resort to Plan B..."

 

[ymu]

D'oh! All this time and I never realised Dacre's real name was Hugh Trevor-Roper. Was wondering why Murdoch would be consulting him about the Hitler Diaries.

Article about how the fuckwit proved what a great historian he really is ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...rt-murdoch-bravado-publication-hitler-diaries

"There once was a fellow called Dacre
Was God in his own little acre.
But in matters of diaries was quite ultra vires,
And just could not spot an old faker."

 

[Gingerman]

D'oh! All this time and I never realised Dacre's real name was Hugh Trevor-Roper. Was wondering why Murdoch would be consulting him about the Hitler Diaries.

Article about how the fuckwit proved what a great historian he really is ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...rt-murdoch-bravado-publication-hitler-diaries


[/quote

The Hitler Dairies fiasco sullied his reputation a tad.

 

[ymu]

Former editor of The Times points out some of Murdoch's lies today

The Tory MO hasn't changed any more than Murdoch's:

First, the pretence is that Murdoch was afforded a private meeting with Thatcher so she could be briefed on the takeover battle. That's absurd enough, given the coverage in the press and the responsibilities of the Department of Trade. The larger absurdity is that the prime minister's redundant "briefing" is being done by only one bidder, and by one who has an urgent interest in rubbishing his competitors.

...

Second, Ingham's note is obviously drafted to deal with the eventuality that the clandestine meeting would one day come to light. On that account, it is ludicrous. We are asked to believe that there was no mention at the lunch of the clear legal requirement for Murdoch's bid to be referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

The prime minister had a duty to remind him of the laws she had sworn to honour and enforce. Did she not emit at least a polite cough? If she did not, she was uncharacteristically negligent. And if she did murmur something, why did Ingham choose not to record it? Sir Bernard is alas unable to help us with anything. He has no memory of the meeting. Amnesia seems to be catching.

 

[Gingerman]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...urdoch-rebekah-brooks-simon-kelner-independen
Man I would have enjoyed kicking them out if they burst into my place like that,if Kelner had any balls he would have gotten building security to chuck them out onto their arses on the pavement with as much force as legally possible.

 

[1%er]

Read in full here

Mr Hunt, the Culture Secretary, spent five days in the US holding meetings with News Corp.......

Downing Street may have failed to declare five occasions where Mr Cameron met Rupert Murdoch at social events (this will come out at leveson tomorrow I guess)

Mr Hunt exchanged text messages with the News Corp lobbyist Fréd Michel while adjudicating on the bid...........

Adam Smith, Mr Hunt's adviser, communicated with Mr Michel via a private email account that could not be read by civil servants responsible for ensuring the probity of communications.

The involvement of the FSA, which is understood to be concerned that emails to News Corp from Mr Smith contained financially sensitive information, will be a major concern for the Government.

Ministerial code

* Failing to take responsibility for the actions of his adviser, whose communications with News Corp he admits were "not appropriate" during a quasi-judicial process on the takeover

* Not giving accurate and truthful information to parliament when he said in March 2011 he had published "all the documents relating to.... all the exchanges between my department and News Corp"

* Not announcing decision on the bid in January last year to parliament by tipping off News Corp in advance.

The text messages and some other stuff that I think has already been mentioned here in the link above.

 

[ymu]

Private email accounts are another thing this government has form for. Gove got into (far too little) shit over that too.

Nice big hole they're digging here. Big enough to fit all of them pretty soon.

 

[two sheds]

Oo that's interesting - in which case you'd imagine all their private e-mails would also have to come under scrutiny *just in case*.

 

[ymu]

David Cameron's five secret meetings with Rupert Murdoch

The chairman and chief executive of News Corporation provided details of diary entries to the Leveson Inquiry which showed that the two men had met on at least seven occasions since Mr Cameron became Prime Minister.

Downing Street has previously acknowledged only that the Prime Minister had met the media tycoon twice since May 2010 and the contents of Mr Murdoch’s diary will add to concerns about Mr Cameron’s relationship with News Corporation executives.

In the wake of the phone hacking scandal, the Prime Minister published details of his meetings with media executives and editors. In the House of Commons, he pledged to MPs that “every contact” had been made public.

Dave caught out lying again. Oh dear.

 

[ymu]

Will Rupert and James Murdoch topple David Cameron?

Telegraph says: mebbe

At this stage the evidence is only circumstantial, but the charge that the Cameron government has done commercial favours for the Murdochs in return for political support is very serious. This, if true, would amount to corruption. Certainly, if proven, it would force the resignation of Mr Hunt. But it is not impossible that the Government would fall. Mr Hunt is one of Mr Cameron’s closest friends in the Cabinet, and would never have set out on the course he did without the agreement of the Prime Minister.

 

[ymu]

Jay appears to be using yesterday's answers to give Murdoch a much harder time today. He's also patronising him a lot in an attempt to make him angry, I think.

"David Yelland. Do you remember him?" in the kind of gentle voice you'd use for someone with dementia.

"You said yesterday that if we want to know your political views, we should read The Sun. Now you are saying that you never exerted any influence over the editorial line.." <extended line of questioning on this>

More of a forensic barrister than an attack dog. Looks like it might pay off today.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Do you think Jay always intended to take this into the second day, and was using yesterday to feel Murdoch out, see how best to deal with him, and then work on him harder today? Think they finished a good 1.5/2 hours earlier than their scheduled time.

 

[ymu]

Could be. If he'd got enough to set up his questions for today he'd want as much time as possible to prepare. He's on a strict limit of 70 hours a week on this inquiry.

Think Murdoch just insulted him - caught an apology and "It's OK Mr Murdoch, I am very thick-skinned."

Getting him angry is what he needs to do I think. Get him over this amnesia schtick. Clever, if that is what he's doing - seems to be working.

 

[Teaboy]

Problem for Murdoch is that he can't lay it on to heavy with the doddery old man with bad memory thing because then his position at the top of a multi billion dollor global corporation begins to look a bit absurd; shareholders will be watching.

 

[gabi]

Do you think Jay always intended to take this into the second day, and was using yesterday to feel Murdoch out, see how best to deal with him, and then work on him harder today? Think they finished a good 1.5/2 hours earlier than their scheduled time.

Yep. He's very very good. He's weaving a web around the old boy.

 

[London_Calling]

The further Jay/Leveson force Rupes to distance himself from the NotW culture - as they're doing, the greater becomes the issue of corporate governance, and the stonger the case for fundamental reform.

 

[ymu]

Typically crap article from Martin Kettle about Cameron:

The second crucial figure is David Cameron. The humbling of the Murdochs has exposed two very different sides of the prime minister. The first is the one who schmoozes with Rupert Murdoch, rides with Rebekah Brooks and hires Andy Coulson, and his endorsement of the BSkyB bid and other strands of the Murdochs' wider agenda – including the diminution of the BBC – goes back to the years of opposition before the Sun's endorsement of the Tories in 2009.

The other, too easily overlooked by his enemies, is the Cameron who actually set up the Leveson inquiry, and gave it wide terms of reference whose full impact is only now becoming clear. No recent prime minister before Cameron would have dared set in motion a process whose predictable outcome is a structure of media – and media market – regulation that inescapably does decisive harm to the Murdoch empire's UK ambitions. Major, Blair and the paranoid Brown described by Murdoch on Wednesday would not have dared. Thatcher would not have wanted to.

But which is the real Cameron? The insouciant man of privilege who doesn't think things through and gets a lot of things wrong. Or the intuitive modern centrist who simply gets it about things that need to be done better and differently – but who is also afraid of change and does not push with enough consistency.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/25/upert-murdochs-spell-broken-baleful-influence

On the bolded bit - it hasn't occurred to him that this explains both of his observations.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Could be. If he'd got enough to set up his questions for today he'd want as much time as possible to prepare. He's on a strict limit of 70 hours a week on this inquiry.

That's what I was thinking - no point wasting time yesterday when he'd got all he needed and could prepare his strategy for today. Maybe even get home in time for the football

Still not really following all the details, but it's interesting (in a certain definition ) all the same

 

[London_Calling]

Fwiw, the issue of corp gov is behind pretty much every line of questioning.

 

[Lord Camomile]

It's definitely a bit more testy than yesterday. Think they're only scheduled for half a day today though, over at 1pm?

 

[ymu]

I think he can be recalled if necessary.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Let's hope they have better success recalling him than he does recalling anything.

Ugh, that was laboured

 

[DaveCinzano]

Is that a serious answer, Mr Murdoch?

/highly-renumerated barristerly tones

 

[Lord Camomile]

He's doing a decent job of keeping Murdoch on point. It's like arguing with my dad

 

[London_Calling]

Right on the central point, Leveson squeezes Rupes bollocks. And it hurt.