Rupert Murdoch and the Corruption of the British Media

[Douglas Caddy]

Journalists who stalked hacking MP still employed by Murdoch

By Martin Hickman

The Independent

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Two senior journalists now working for The Sunday Times arranged for an MP investigating the hacking scandal to be put under surveillance, The Independent can reveal today.

While working for the News of the World in 2009 Mazher Mahmood, a reporter known as the "Fake Sheikh" for his undercover stings, and news editor James Mellor agreed that Tom Watson be tailed for days in the mistaken belief he was having an affair with a female politician.

News International later described the surveillance as "inappropriate". However, it kept the men on when the News of the World closed and they are now employed at The Sunday Times, Mr Mahmood as investigative reporter and Mr Mellor as deputy news editor. News International, which says it has "zero tolerance" of wrongdoing, declined to say if either had been disciplined.

The email pinged into the inbox of news editor James Mellor at 10.05am on a Saturday. One of the News of the World's fiercest critics, the Labour MP Tom Watson, was having an extra-marital affair – or so claimed the paper's star investigative reporter, Mazher Mahmood.

Mr Mahmood himself put it less delicately in the message on 26 September 2009: Mr Watson was "shagging" a female politician, he claimed. According to an informant of the "Fake Sheikh", Mr Watson and the woman were staying at separate hotels at the Labour Party conference in Brighton and he was "creeping into her hotel". He described the MP as a "close lackey" of the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown and noted he was "anti-Blair".

Within minutes of being copied into the email, Assistant Editor Ian Edmondson acknowledged it was a "great story". The News of the World had long exposed "secret affairs", but this target was particularly juicy because Mr Watson was an enemy of News International. He excitedly told Mr Mahmood: "You might want to check his recent cutts [cuttings], v interesting!"

That summer Mr Watson – who had been investigating phone hacking at the News of the World – had been vexing Rupert Murdoch's newspaper group. On 30 June, The Sun had been forced to admit it had falsely claimed that he had been privy to a plot to smear leading Conservatives. And in July, he had elicited the information that Mr Murdoch's son, James, had authorised a secret payment to a hacking victim, Gordon Taylor, head of the Professional Footballers' Association.

Behind the scenes, there was another spicy element: News International's papers were about to switch their endorsement from Mr Brown's Labour Party to David Cameron's Conservatives.

Within 10 minutes of receiving the email, Mr Mellor and Mr Edmondson (who was subsequently arrested on suspicion of phone hacking) discussed putting Mr Watson under surveillance. With their agreement, Mr Mahmood commissioned a former policeman, Derek Webb, to tail him. Everything was in place for a front-page scoop, except one thing – the story was not true. Mr Watson was not and never had been having an affair with the politician.

Had News International paid Mr Webb a loyalty payment after the closure of the News of the World last summer, the incident would have remained one of its many secrets. But they did not, and Mr Webb spilled the beans at the end of last year, disclosing that he had tailed Mr Watson and dozens of celebrities, sports people and politicians up to Cabinet level for the paper for years. Until now, it was not known who ordered the surveillance on Mr Watson. Lawyers for Lord Justice Leveson indicated to The Independent that the surveillance, which was legal, would not be a line of questioning when Mr Watson appears before his inquiry today.

News International, which has apologised to Mr Watson for the surveillance, said: "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on this issue."

Edited May 29, 2012 by Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2148058/Rupert-Murdoch-told-Tony-Blair-anti-hacking-MP-Tom-Watson-inquiry-told.html

[Douglas Caddy]

Piers Morgan gave me phone hack lesson, Jeremy Paxman tells Leveson Inquiry

By John Fahey

The Independen

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan once told Jeremy Paxman how to access voicemail messages, the Leveson Inquiry heard today.

Newsnight anchorman Mr Paxman said he attended a lunch at Mirror headquarters in Canary Wharf in September 2002 where Mr Morgan teased Ulrika Jonsson about her relationship with former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, saying he knew about a conversation they had.

Mr Paxman said Mr Morgan explained to him how to access people's phone messages after teasing the Swedish television presenter about the conversation.

Mr Paxman told the inquiry: "He turned to me and said 'Have you got a mobile phone?'

"I said yes and he asked if there was a security setting on the message bit of it. I didn't know what he was talking about.

"He then explained the way to get access to people's messages was to go to the factory default setting and press either 0000 or 1234 and that if you didn't put on your own code, his words, 'You're a fool'."

The BBC Newsnight presenter said he remembered the lunch for two reasons: he wondered why he had been invited and because of what Morgan said.

"Mr Morgan was teasing Ulrika that he knew what had happened in a conversation between her and Sven-Goran Eriksson," said Paxman.

"I don't know if he was repeating a conversation he had heard or he was imagining this conversation.

"To be fair to him I should imagine both possibly because he probably was imagining it."

Paxman said Morgan put on a funny Swedish voice.

"It was a rather bad parody."

He added: "I don't know if he was making this up, making up the conversation.

"But it was clearly something he was familiar with and I wasn't.

"I didn't know that this went on."

The veteran presenter said Morgan's treatment of Jonsson was close to bullying.

"I didn't like it," he said.

PA

[Douglas Caddy]

Phone Hacking: The Sun's Whitehall Editor arrested in illegal payments probe

Clodagh Hartley, the Sun’s Whitehall Editor, has been arrested as part of the investigation into illegal payments to public officials, News International sources have confirmed.

She was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office

By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent

The Telegraph

3:07PM BST 25 May 2012

The 37-year-old, who became the paper’s first female lobby journalist three years ago, was arrested when she attended Bromley Police Station by appointment this morning.

She was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.

Ms Hartley is a long standing Sun reporter who has worked in Los Angeles for the paper and has also had spells as the consumer affairs correspondent and home affairs correspondent.

When she was appointed to the paper’s lobby staff three years ago, the then political editor, George Pascoe-Watson described her as a “distinguished veteran news reporter with ten years experience on the road”.

She is the 30th person to be arrested as part of Operation Elveden, which was set up to investigate allegations that journalists had illegally paid police officers and public officials for information and stories.

The investigation, which is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is running alongside Operation Weeting which is examining phone hacking allegations at the News of the World newspaper.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The 37-year-old woman attended Bromley Police Station by appointment and was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office, contrary to Common Law and suspicion of bribery, contrary to the Bribery Act 2010.”

In an internal memo to staff, News International chief executive Tom Mockridge said: "I am sorry to inform you that a further News International employee has been arrested by the police in connection with Operation Elveden."

He added: "As I have said before, it is important that proper due process takes its course and we must not prejudge the outcome of the police interviews. The company is continuing to do everything it can to assist our colleague, and has provided her with legal support. I appreciate this is difficult news for everyone and I am grateful for your continued hard work."

The arrest followed information that was passed to the police by News Corporation’s Management and Standards Committee, set up by Rupert Murdoch in the wake of the hacking scandal last summer.

The company is carrying out internal investigations relating to Mr Murdoch's remaining UK papers – The Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times – and is working closely with the police team investigating alleged phone-hacking and corrupt payments to police and other public officials.

Among the arrests so far are a number of senior Sun journalists as well as police officers, members of the armed forces and a worker from HM Customs and Revenue

[Douglas Caddy]

Ex-aide Adam Smith 'said BSkyB bid would go ahead'

By Andrew Woodcock

The Independent

Friday, 25 May 2012

Jeremy Hunt's former special adviser told a News Corporation lobbyist that the media giant's BSkyB takeover bid would go ahead once plans to spin off Sky News were accepted, the Leveson Inquiry heard today.

But Adam Smith said he did not remember telling Fred Michel it would be "game over" for opponents of the buyout after the proposal to make the news channel a separately listed company was announced.

At the time other media groups criticised News Corp's intention to buy the 61 per cent share of BSkyB it did not already own, alleging it would concentrate too much power in Rupert Murdoch's hands.

Mr Michel, News Corp's former director of public affairs in Europe, sent an email to fellow executives on January 23 last year based on a conversation with Mr Smith.

He wrote: "His (Mr Hunt's) view is that once he announces publicly he has a strong UIL (undertaking in lieu, namely the Sky News spin-off plans), it's almost game over for the opposition."

Mr Smith, who quit as Mr Hunt's special adviser last month after admitting he got too close to Mr Michel, said much of the lobbyist's email was factually accurate but disputed its tone.

He told the inquiry: "I think that that's a sort of colourful explanation of the process.

"If you have an undertaking in lieu that Ofcom (the broadcasting regulator) and the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) say satisfied the plurality concerns that Ofcom had identified, then the whole point of that is that then there are no plurality concerns. So the deal would go ahead.

"I don't remember saying 'game over for the opposition', but I can imagine we had a conversation along those lines about the process and talking around what happens."

Mr Michel's email said Mr Hunt was "keen to get to the same outcome" as News Corp.

But Mr Smith disputed this: "I wouldn't have said that ... They didn't have the same outcome. Mr Hunt's aim was to follow the process, whereas I'm sure Mr Murdoch's aim was to acquire the remaining shares."

Robert Jay QC, counsel to the Leveson Inquiry, suggested: "The wider objective was the same outcome, namely the securing of the bid for News Corp, because he thought in policy terms that was desirable."

But Mr Smith insisted: "That wasn't his objective. Now his objective is to carry out his legal and statutory duties."

The inquiry was yesterday shown a memo Mr Hunt sent Prime Minister David Cameron arguing the case for News Corp to take over BSkyB, just weeks before he was given quasi-judicial oversight of the bid.

The note, dated November 19 2010, warned that Business Secretary Vince Cable's decision to refer the bid to regulator Ofcom could leave the Government "on the wrong side of media policy".

Mr Smith said the Culture Secretary and his department knew he was in contact with Mr Michel, who "bombarded" him with information about News Corp's BSkyB takeover bid.

"I would have thought on the odd occasion that I did mention to Mr Hunt one of the issues that I thought was worthy of his attention, I would I think almost certainly have said, 'Fred's told me X, Y or Z'," he said.

"They generally knew I was in touch. On some certain issues they certainly knew. But I don't think they knew the volume or extent."

The inquiry heard yesterday that Mr Michel exchanged 191 telephone calls, 158 emails and 799 texts with Mr Hunt's team between June 2010, when News Corp announced its bid, and July last year, when it abandoned the plan amid outrage over the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

Of these, more than 90 per cent were exchanged with Mr Smith, who himself sent 257 text messages to the News Corp lobbyist between November 2010 and July last year.

Mr Smith said today 95 per cent of his contact with Mr Michel was via his mobile phone, with only a "handful" of calls made using his office landline.

Mr Smith told the inquiry he could not remember advising News Corp it would be OK for the Culture Secretary and Mr Murdoch to talk by telephone after being pressed about an email Mr Michel sent to James Murdoch on November 15 2010 saying Mr Hunt had received "strong legal advice" not to meet them that day but it would be fine to chat by mobile phone.

He dismissed suggestions that there had been any frustration that Mr Hunt could not communicate with Business Secretary Vince Cable, who was previously responsible for the deal, about the bid.

"I think the frustration, if there was any, was more about that Mr Hunt wanted to talk to Mr Murdoch about the bid and broadband and local TV and all sorts of issues."

After Mr Hunt made a statement to Parliament, Mr Michel texted the special adviser saying it had gone well.

When he received no reply, he texted again four hours later saying: "I think we are in a good place tonight, no?"

Mr Smith responded, saying: "I agree, coverage looks okay. Let's look again in the morning."

Pressed on how that could be interpreted, Mr Smith insisted he meant that the Culture Secretary thought the statement had gone well.

He accepted that some of his text message exchanges with Mr Michel might have appeared conspiratorial but insisted: "Nothing like that was happening."

He added: "I think these texts were me being flippant and too loose with my language."

Mr Jay said: "It's just the accumulation of text messages which arguably give rise to an impression. One can't identify one particular message and say 'Aha, this means X rather than Y'. It is just the series of them. Do you accept that?"

Mr Smith replied: "I can see how the perception would be created, yes."

He denied giving a "sneak preview" to News Corp about the department's intentions.

He insisted information he gave to Mr Michel, who went on to email details to Mr Murdoch with the claim that it was "highly illegal", was the same briefing Mr Hunt had given to News Corporation four days earlier.

Mr Smith said he did not feel he was speaking for Mr Hunt on the details of the BSkyB takeover process in his conversations with Mr Michel.

He told the hearing: "I wouldn't have been doing my job if I had had to run and check what Mr Hunt thought about every stage of the process.

"In this particular bid, I would argue that I was actually just being more of a buffer and a channel of communications rather than representing Mr Hunt's views to anybody."

The former special adviser said he "wasn't that fussed" about whether News Corp's BSkyB takeover went ahead, but thought it should go ahead as long as no new issues were thrown up by a period of consultation.

He said: "On the wider issue, I looked at if from the point of view of the consumer not probably being that concerned because they get their news or watch their TV, and don't really mind too much about where that comes from."

[Douglas Caddy]

Murdoch Private Eye Targeted US Hedge Fund Boss

Reuters | Posted: 05/25/2012 1:30 pm Updated: 05/25/2012 2:09 pm

* Database shows NY financier Robert Agostinelli targeted

* Evidence suggests "blagging" by Murdoch private detective

* One of few U.S. connections to News Corp hacking scandal

By Mark Hosenball

May 25 (Reuters) - A private detective working for Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers used a legally questionable tactic to obtain a hotel bill that a New York financier ran up at one of London's swankest hotels, records reviewed by Reuters show.

A database of business records compiled by British government investigators shows that some time before his arrest in March 2003, private investigator Steve Whittamore, or someone working for him, misrepresented themselves to obtain from Claridge's Hotel a copy of a bill belonging to Robert Agostinelli, an American who runs the Rhone Group private equity firm.

Whittamore was convicted of trading in illegally obtained information but did not serve jail time. He could not be reached for comment.

Agostinelli did not respond to messages left for him at Rhone Group offices in New York and London.

He is a former senior partner at Goldman Sachs and Lazard and ranks among the richest financiers in the world.

The Whittamore database entry on Agostinelli is one of the few pieces of evidence to surface from extensive U.K. investigations that Americans were targeted by operatives working for Murdoch's British newspapers, who used questionable investigative techniques.

Murdoch's News Corp newspapers in Britain are among the principal targets of a judicial inquiry, created by British Prime Minister David Cameron and chaired by Sir Brian Leveson, a senior English judge, into the practices and ethics of the British press.

A spokesperson for News International, Murdoch's London-based newspaper publishing arm, said: "The information you refer to was the subject of a report by the Information Commissioner's Office in 2006 and has been examined extensively by the Leveson Inquiry in recent months. News International has given detailed evidence on these matters."

Allegations have surfaced that Murdoch journalists or investigators may have used similar tactics on celebrities visiting the United States, but so far those allegations relate to journalists and targets based in Britain.

An FBI investigation so far has turned up no evidence to substantiate allegations, originally made by a British newspaper which competes with Murdoch properties, that victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. may have been targeted for intrusion by Murdoch journalists or investigators.

The Whittamore database was put together by the office of Britain's Information Commissioner, a government privacy watchdog, from records seized in a police raid on the private detective's office.

The database indicates that Whittamore's inquiry regarding Agostinelli was commissioned by Murdoch's now-defunct Sunday tabloid, the News of the World. The database shows an address for Agostinelli on Fifth Avenue, New York City. It describes Whittamore's assignment as a "Claridges blag".

"Blag" is a British slang word meaning that a private detective adopts a false identity in order to con information out of a targeted organization or individual.

In the United States, blagging is known as "pretexting". According to the website of the Federal Trade Commission, pretexting is illegal under federal law if the purpose is to obtain "customer" or financial information.

In Britain, media industry sources said, blagging is usually illegal. But newspapers can defend themselves against legal complaints by asserting that the use of the practice in a specific case was in the "public interest."

The Whittamore database records show that as a result of the "Claridges blag", information was obtained about a four-day Agostinelli hotel stay, in a room which cost 411.25 British pounds per night. The total bill was 3,433.98 British pounds. The records show that the hotel stay in question was in the month of July, but do not specify a year.

Searches through media databases do not indicate that stories about Agostinelli appeared in the News of the World in the period before or soon after the police raid during which Whittamore's records were seized.

Some years later, British press articles did mention Agostinelli as a member of a group which was interested in buying the Liverpool soccer team, but ultimately lost out to another American bidder.

Agostinelli appeared as No. 19 in the 2011 edition of an annual "rich list" published by Murdoch's Sunday Times of London. The paper said Agostinelli was now "London-based", with estimated wealth of 625 million British pounds, and counted former French President Nicholas Sarkozy as a friend.

The journalist named in the Whittamore database as having commissioned the private detective to investigate Agostinelli, who now works for a different newspaper, said he had never heard of Agostinelli and maintained that the database entry referring to him was inaccurate.

A spokesman said Claridges had no comment.

The News International spokesperson added: "There is a public interest defence available for any potential breach of the Data Protection Act and you do not have the information necessary to make any judgement on specific cases. We are not in a position to comment on a specific case."

[Douglas Caddy]

Leveson Inquiry: Jeremy Hunt 'briefed David Cameron on BSkyB takeover bid in private memo’

David Cameron was privately briefed by Jeremy Hunt on the News Corporation takeover bid for BSkyB despite publicly insisting that he absented himself from the deal, documents have disclosed.

By Robert Winnett, and Gordon Rayner at the Leveson Inquiry

The Telegraph

10:00PM BST 25 May 2012

The Culture Secretary sent a private memo to the Prime Minister on March 17 2011 advising him to talk to Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, about the £8billion deal.

The memorandum, disclosed as part of evidence released by the Leveson Inquiry, showed the Tories were trying to avoid a row over Mr Hunt’s decision not to refer the deal to the Competition Commission.

The document may undermine the Prime Minister’s assurances to Parliament that he had “specifically asked to be taken out of any of the information” about the takeover.

Mr Hunt is to appear at the inquiry next Thursday and is expected to be cross-examined over Mr Cameron’s knowledge of the bid. He will also be questioned about 67 text messages he exchanged with Frederic Michel, the News Corp chief lobbyist.

Adam Smith, Mr Hunt’s former special adviser, gave evidence showing the Culture Secretary emailed “fortnightly updates” to Mr Cameron. On Thursday, it emerged that he sent the Prime Minister a memo supporting the BSkyB bid in November 2010, before he had control of deciding if the takeover should go ahead. It emerged that Mr Hunt sent another note on March 17 2011 saying: “The News Corp/Sky issue seems to have died completely.

“Certainly none of the newspaper groups are talking about it now. I did hear that Chris Huhne was apoplectic and advocated going to the media to criticise it – partly because Don Foster [the Lib Dem media spokesman] was onside Nick [Clegg] reined him in. The point to make to Nick (which I have also made to Chris) is that if I had referred it to the Competition Commission it would almost certainly have been judicially reviewed by News Corp as being unreasonable, given that Ofcom and OFT had given it the all clear.”

Downing Street sources said the note provided “background to a decision already taken”.

[Steve Knight]

lol. Some nutter "broke" into the Leveson rooms through a supposedly-secure corridor, and called Blair a "War Criminal", accusing him of receiving money from JP Morgan to allow them to rip Iraqi banks off for £20billion....

EDIT : http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/28/tony-blair-protester-leveson-inquiry?google_editors_picks=true

Edited May 28, 2012 by Steve Knight

[John Simkin]

lol. Some nutter "broke" into the Leveson rooms through a supposedly-secure corridor, and called Blair a "War Criminal", accusing him of receiving money from JP Morgan to allow them to rip Iraqi banks off for £20billion....

EDIT : http://www.guardian....tors_picks=true

He was not some "nutter" he was telling the truth.

[Steve Knight]

Indeed. But he went about it totally the wrong way, and smarmy Bliar easily dismissed his claims.

[Douglas Caddy]

Blair protester vows to target former PM again

Exclusive: David Lawley-Wakelin talks to the Guardian about bursting into the Leveson inquiry and calling Tony Blair a 'war criminal'

By Peter Walker

guardian.co.uk,

Monday 28 May 2012 12.52 EDT

The activist who burst into the Leveson inquiry to shout at Tony Blair as the former prime minister gave evidence had barely planned the protest and made his way into the courtroom unchallenged via a back staircase, he has told the Guardian.

David Lawley-Wakelin, a film-maker and teacher of film, who has

, said he had now been released by police without charge or even a caution.

He disrupted proceedings on Monday when he emerged through a rear door to shout: "Excuse me. This man should be arrested for war crimes." The 49-year-old then made allegations about Blair being "paid off" by JP Morgan for his role in the conflict, yelling: "The man is a war criminal," before he was dragged away. Blair immediately denied the allegations.

Lord Justice Leveson apologised to Blair and ordered an investigation into how the intruder gained access to court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Lawley-Wakelin said he had read about Blair's appearance before Leveson only on Sunday and set off for the courts from his west London home on Monday morning with no idea at all how he might get in.

He got into the courts complex through the public entrance, a process which involves a bag x-ray and passing through a metal detector, before heading towards court 73. He said: "I tried to go by the front stairs first and was asked to leave, and then I figured that there must be a back way in – how does Leveson himself get in? So I went down two floors, round the back, and then up the back stairs, and there was no one there. So I walked straight in."

He was as surprised as anyone, Lawley-Wakelin admitted, when he first appeared just behind Leveson's desk: "I thought, I'm not going to be able to do this. I nearly gave up, in fact. But when I figured out a way through it was fairly straightforward."

None of his statements were directed at Blair himself. Lawley-Wakelin said: "I could see Blair out of the corner of my eye. I looked at him a couple of times. I was extremely nervous, and I didn't know which way to look. I saw a mass of people straight ahead and I looked at them. I was trying to find the cameras but I couldn't see them."

He said he had decided in advance to not approach or remonstrate directly with the former PM: "No, because then you can get done for assault or something like that. Better to just say your piece." The security personnel who removed him were not too rough, he said: "I just said to them: 'Look, I'm not going to do any more harm,' because I didn't want to get myself hurt. After that they listened to me and they treated me very gently indeed."

After he was taken to a police station, that was the end of the matter, he said. "They just said, give us your word that you won't be trying to get back into the court again. I said no, and they said it's pretty obvious you won't be able to anyway, because obviously the security will be tightened. So they let me go."

While Blair took a directorship with JP Morgan after leaving office, among a number of commercial ventures, once Lawley-Wakelin was removed the former prime minister told Leveson that claims that his relationship with the bank was improper were "completely and totally untrue".

Lawley-Wakelin described his impromptu plan as "a great bit of demonstrating", saying that while he would not return to Leveson he would target Blair again: "Whenever Blair is in public he'd better look over his shoulder, as I'll come back and do it again."

Edited May 29, 2012 by Douglas Caddy

[Douglas Caddy]

Martin Hickman: A silken performance from Blair the master escapologist

Blair achieved everything he had set out to do at the Leveson Inquiry

By Martin Hickman

The Independent

Monday, 28 May 2012

Tony Blair earned his Teflon tag today. Assured and articulate, Labour’s longest-serving prime minister put in a silken performance at Court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice. Even when a protester stormed into the courtroom and shouted “war criminal” within feet of his perma-tanned face, Mr Blair the world statesman, maintained his composure, airily dismissing the intrusion with a flick of his left hand.

In coming to the Leveson Inquiry, Mr Blair appeared to have two missions: a) to agree that he felt the press barons had become too powerful and required reform and to demonstrate that he himself had never behaved improperly in wooing them.

The chief topic was his relationship with Rupert Murdoch. Had Mr Blair done a deal with News Corp’s chief executive in 1995 two years before his general election landslide? Had he granted Mr Murdoch’s News International favours in return for the wholehearted support of its papers at three general elections? Was he a close friend of the octogenarian proprietor?

On everything, Mr Blair, his hands constantly moving and emphatic, delivered what appeared to be off-the-cuff answers which were, on closer inspection, both carefully-worded and often diversionary. The deal? "There was no deal on issues to do with the media... and to be fair he never sought such a thing,” he replied, carefully limiting any accusation to “media issues” rather than the general understanding they are said to have reached, that New Labour would be good for Mr Murdoch’s business in return for his papers giving Labour a “fair wind”.

No, Mr Blair had not changed to policy for Mr Murdoch; he did what he thought was right, though he may have carefully presented his messages to The Sun on issues such as Europe (He had entered government a “pro-European” and he left office still a “pro-European”, he stressed)

Asked whether he was a close friend of the tycoon, he was presented with a rather fact which limited his wriggle-room: Mr Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng had last year embarrassingly disclosed that the former Labour leader was godfather to their daughter. Evasively, Mr Blair replied that the relationship with Mr Murdoch had changed since he had left office; in office the relationship had been a “working relationship” but afterwards it had changed. (He couldn’t bring himself to confirm that he was a close friend of Mr Murdoch – but nor, given the evidence, could he deny it.)

He seemed to be keen to attack the Daily Mail, and to limit criticism of Mr Murdoch.

The “appalling” things which had happened in Mr Murdoch’s business – which Mr Blair did not name, but which commentators might assume were widespread criminality including phone hacking, computer hacking, corruption of police, and allegedly conspiring to pervert the course of justice – were just “one aspect” of his otherwise laudable work in the UK.

By lunchtime, Mr Blair had achieved everything he had set out to do – not incriminate himself. Unusually, Robert Jay, QC, did not save his best for last and the session ended with a cosy chat between Lord Leveson and Mr Blair about press reform. Once again, the master escapologist had slipped out of trouble.

Martin Hickman is a reporter for The Independent and co-author of 'Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain'

[Steve Knight]

http://www.guardian....y?newsfeed=true

Andy Coulson detained by police for suspected perjury

Strathclyde police hold David Cameron's ex-communications chief on suspicion of perjury at Glasgow high court

• Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
  
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 May 2012 10.16 BST
  

Andy Coulson, David Cameron's former director of communications and ex-News of the World editor, has been detained by Strathclyde police on suspicion of committing perjury.

A police spokeswoman said: "I can confirm officers from Strathclyde police's Operation Rubicon team detained a 44-year-old man in London this morning under Section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Scotland Act on suspicion of committing perjury at the high court in Glasgow.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further in this case."

More details soon …

EDIT (Updated article) :-

Andy Coulson, David Cameron's former director of communications, has been detained by police investigating alleged perjury at the trial of the Scottish socialist politician Tommy Sheridan.

Strathclyde police said Coulson was detained in London for questioning on Wednesday morning in connection with evidence the former News of the World editor gave during Sheridan's own trial for perjury in December 2010.

Coulson, who was then serving as the prime minister's chief media adviser at 10 Downing Street, was called as a defence witness by Sheridan, who was on trial for lying in court when he won a £200,000 defamation action against the NoW.

The former NoW editor was questioned over two days at the high court in Glasgow by Sheridan, who conducted his own defence, about his knowledge of a hacking operation against Sheridan carried out by Glenn Mulcaire.

During the trial, Sheridan produced documentary evidence that he had been twice targeted by Mulcaire, a private detective hired by the NoW, in 2004.

It has since emerged that other close members of Sheridan's family and associates were also named and potentially targeted by Mulcaire, including the politician's mother, Alice Sheridan, and the Scottish politician Joan McAlpine, a former friend of his who co-wrote a book on Sheridan's anti-poll tax campaign in the early 1990s.

Strathclyde police, in tandem with senior prosecutors at the Crown Office, Scotland's prosecution authority, launched an inquiry into alleged perjury at Sheridan's trial and into hacking in Scotland last autumn. The investigation, Operation Rubicon, involved at least 50 detectives.

Under Scottish police procedure, Coulson has not been formally arrested as he has not yet been charged.

This is the second time he has been detained in connection with the wider hacking affair: he has already been arrested by the Metropolitan police as part of its investigations into NI.

In a brief statement, a Strathclyde police spokeswoman said: "I can confirm officers from Strathclyde police's Operation Rubicon team detained a 44-year-old man in London this morning.

"It is under section 14 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 on suspicion of committing perjury before the high court in Glasgow."

Sheridan was convicted by a majority verdict at the high court in December 2010 over his evidence relating to lying to former colleagues in the Scottish Socialist party about his private life when he sued the NoW in 2006 for libel over allegations about his sex life.

The jury at that libel hearing at the court of session in Edinburgh found in Sheridan's favour, and the then Scottish Socialist party leader was awarded £200,000 in damages.

Payment of those damages has been delayed after NI appealed against the verdict; that case has been suspended pending the outcome of Operation Rubicon investigation.

Edited May 30, 2012 by Steve Knight

[John Dolva]

bump

[Douglas Caddy]

Andy Coulson arrested and charged with perjury

David Cameron's former communications chief Andy Coulson has been arrested and charged with perjury.

The Telegraph

10:32PM BST 30 May 2012

The former News of the World editor was detained for questioning at Govan police station in Glasgow on Wednesday by officers from Strathclyde Police.

The force said a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal which will decide whether Mr Coulson is to face court proceedings.

Coulson was detained in London on Wednesday morning by Strathclyde Police and arrived at Govan Police Station in the south side of Glasgow later that afternoon.

The 44-year-old gave evidence in Sheridan's perjury trial at the High Court in Glasgow in December 2010.

Operation Rubicon detectives have been looking at whether certain witnesses lied to the court during Sheridan's trial as part of a "full" investigation into phone hacking in Scotland.

Sheridan was ultimately jailed for three years in January last year after being found guilty of perjury during his 2006 defamation action against the News of the World.

He had been awarded £200,000 in damages after winning the civil case but a jury at the High Court in Glasgow found him guilty of lying about the now-defunct tabloid's claims that he was an adulterer who visited a swingers' club.

The trial, which lasted almost 12 weeks, was one of the longest of its kind in Scottish legal history.

The former Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader represented himself after parting company with QC Maggie Scott.

He was convicted of five out of six allegations in a single charge of perjury relating to his evidence during the civil action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

His wife Gail was on trial along with him but was acquitted of lying to the court during his successful defamation action against the News of the World in 2006.

He was released from jail in January after serving one year of his sentence and vowed to continue the fight to clear his name.