The Lord Justice said the expansion of the terms of reference meant the first part might not be completed in a year

The man appointed to lead the judicial inquiry into phone hacking and press standards last night warned newspapers not to "close ranks" but help him expose the "depth" of journalistic malpractice.

In his first public comments since being appointed, Lord Justice Leveson said he intended to call "waves" of witnesses including journalists, politicians and policemen starting in autumn. He also warned that the expansion of the terms of reference of his inquiry had been so broadened that he might not be able to complete the first part of the inquiry within the planned timescale of a year.

The terms were expanded by David Cameron earlier this month after pressure from MPs to look at the role of the BBC and social media as part of the investigation.


Lord Justice Leveson met for the first time formally with the other members of his inquiry panel yesterday and read a statement outlining the procedures and time-scale for the first section of the inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press. The second section of the inquiry will look at the specific phone-hacking allegations that arose in the wake of the scandal at the News of the World but will only begin once police investigations have been completed. A series of seminars will be held in October looking at law, media ethics and the practice and pressures of investigative journalism for broadsheet and tabloid newspapers.

Lord Justice Leveson said: "At some stage, there needs to be a discussion of what amounts to the public good, to what extent the public interest should be taken into account and by whom. I hope that an appropriate cross-section of the entire profession, including those from the broadcast media, will be involved in the discussion."

He added: "It may be tempting for a number of people to close ranks and suggest that the problem is or was local to a group of journalists then operating at the News of the World, but I would encourage all to take a wider view of the public good and help me grapple with the width and depth of the problem."

All witnesses, who are expected to include Mr Cameron, will be examined under oath, a spokesman for the inquiry said. The inquiry judge will consult the Director of Public Prosecutions to ensure he does not jeopardise ongoing legal investigations.

But he added: "I believe it should be possible to focus on the extent of the problem which would not prejudice an investigation, without examining who did what to whom."

Lord Justice Leveson continued, "The focus of the inquiry is 'the culture, practices and ethics of the press' in the context of the latter's relationship with the public, the police and politicians. All of these matters overlap, and my goal must be to consider what lessons, if any, may be learned from past events and what recommendations, if any, should be made for the future, in particular as regards press regulation, governance and other systems of oversight."

 

Read More

Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan says comments he made on BBC radio in 2009 do not suggest he printed stories obtained through illegal reporting.

The CNN host released a statement after several news organisations published a transcript of his interview on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

In it, he admits "running the results" of work by third parties who did "rake through bins... tap people's phones".

But Mr Morgan's statement repeated his recent denial of using phone hacking.

"There is no contradiction between my comments on Kirsty Young's Desert Island Discs show and my unequivocal statements with regard to phone hacking," it said.

"Millions of people heard these comments when I first made them in 2009 on one of the BBC's longest-running radio shows, and none deduced that I was admitting to, or condoning illegal reporting activity."

On Tuesday, Trinity Mirror, publishers of the Mirror and Sunday Mirror, announced a review of editorial "controls and procedures" following the phone-hacking scandal.

The company said it was being conducted in the light of the current environment rather than a specific allegation.

'Tabloid beast'
Separately, the BBC has found evidence of possible hacking at the Sunday Mirror, and there are separate claims Daily Mirror journalists hacked voicemails.

Former journalist James Hipwell, who was jailed for writing about companies whose shares he owned, told an Australian newspaper that in the late 1990s Mirror staff were told to go through the voicemails of celebrities.


However, Mr Morgan, who has also edited the News of the World which closed amid allegations of widespread use of hacking, strongly denies sanctioning the tactic.

"I have never hacked a phone, told anyone to hack a phone, nor to my knowledge published any story obtained from the hacking of a phone," his statement said.

On Desert Island Discs, presenter Kirsty Young asked him: "What about this nice middle-class boy who would have to be dealing with, I mean, essentially people who rake through bins for a living, people who tap people's phones, people who take secret photographs and do all that very nasty down-in-the-gutter stuff?"

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

My answer was not specific to any of the numerous examples she gave but a general observation about tabloid newspaper reporters and private investigators”

Piers Morgan
Mr Morgan replied that "not a lot of that went on".

But he continued: "A lot of it was done by third parties rather than the staff themselves.

"That's not to defend it because obviously you were running the results of their work.

"I'm quite happy to be parked in the corner as tabloid beast and to have to sit here defending all these things I used to get up to. I make no pretence about the stuff we used to do.

"I simply say the net of people doing it was very wide and certainly encompassed the high and low end of the newspaper market."

However, in his statement released on Wednesday, Mr Morgan said: "Kirsty asked me a fairly lengthy question about how I felt dealing with people operating at the sharp end of investigative journalism.

"My answer was not specific to any of the numerous examples she gave but a general observation about tabloid newspaper reporters and private investigators."

'Well-known' tactic
Meanwhile, Roy Greenslade's Guardian blog refers to a report published in GQ magazine in February, detailing an interview Mr Morgan conducted with Naomi Campbell where the supermodel began asking him questions.

When she asked if he allowed phone tapping while editor of the News of the World, he replied that he was editor before mobiles were widely used and hacking into voicemails known about.

However, he spoke about the jailing of former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman for phone hacking.

"It was pretty well-known that if you didn't change your pin code when you were a celebrity who bought a new phone, then reporters could ring your mobile, tap in a standard factory setting number and hear your messages," said Mr Morgan.

"That is not, to me, as serious as planting a bug in someone's house, which is what some people seem to think was going on.

"It is [an invasion of privacy], yes. But loads of newspaper journalists were doing it."

Mr Morgan became embroiled in the controversy over hacking when Conservative MP Louise Mensch claimed he had "boasted" about hacking phones in his memoir.

She made the claim during the Commons culture, media and sport committee hearing with News Corporation bosses Rupert and James Murdoch.

Mr Morgan reacted angrily and demanded she apologise.

Read More

Met Police to publish hospitality record

The acting head of the Metropolitan Police (Met) has said the force will examine its media relations and publish hospitality records "within weeks".

Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin told a Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) meeting that corruption was not endemic in the force.

The Met has been dogged by allegations that officers were too close to journalists involved in phone hacking.

The Met's chief commissioner and his assistant quit over the scandal.

The role of the Metropolitan Police has come under the microscope since the phone-hacking scandal arose, with allegations that officers took money from the News of the World for information.

Health spa
Sir Paul Stephenson resigned as commissioner of the Met after it emerged the paper's former executive editor Neil Wallis had been employed by Scotland Yard as a public relations consultant.

Assistant Commissioner John Yates checked the credentials of Mr Wallis before the Met employed the former News of the World executive, who was arrested over hacking claims.

Sir Paul had previously appeared at an emergency MPA session where he was asked about 24 meetings - three-quarters of which were lunches or meals - he had had with representatives from the News of the World.

He also came under fire for receiving hospitality from a Champneys health spa while recovering from the removal of a pre-cancerous tumour in his leg.


Tim Godwin took over after the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson
Mr Godwin's comments follow the MPA's criticism of the force for the poor quality of the information it currently provides on hospitality provided to officers.

While being questioned by members of the MPA, Mr Godwin insisted that corruption was "in no way endemic" in the force.

But he added: "It would be foolish for me if I didn't acknowledge the perceptions that have been created over the past weeks."

Mr Godwin said the Met should therefore examine its media relations, including ensuring transparent hospitality records.

The Metropolitan Police said it would publish detailed records of gifts and hospitality provided for senior officers by media organisations.

'No confidence'
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has also come in for criticism over some of his public comments about the phone-hacking scandal.

John Biggs - a Labour member of the MPA - said Mr Johnson should understand that his "words have consequences" and said he thought that Sir Paul Stephenson's resignation as commissioner "was forced by the de facto statement of no confidence from the mayor".

Boris Johnson was not at the meeting to respond to the comments. But his deputy for policing and the MPA chairman, Kit Malthouse, defended the mayor, insisting it was an "an extraordinary set of events which the Metropolitan Police has never had to face before".

Mr Malthouse said the events of the past few weeks had revealed a number of cracks in London's policing system and authorities needed to learn from that.

"Everybody operated from a well-meaning point of view but the process and the system was not sufficient to cope with the time frame in which that announcement needed to be made," Mr Malthouse added.

 

Read More

The judge leading the public inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal says he will use his powers to demand evidence from witnesses "as soon as possible

The judge leading the public inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal says he will use his powers to demand evidence from witnesses "as soon as possible".

Lord Justice Leveson said he would also invite all editors, journalists and media owners to flag up what they saw as "inappropriate" practices.

His inquiry will examine press ethics and practices in relation to the public, politicians and police.

Public hearings will begin in September and he will report back within a year.

"It may be tempting for a number of people to close ranks and suggest the problem is or was local to a small group of journalists then operating at the News of the World," said Lord Justice Leveson.

"I would encourage all to take a wider picture of the public good, and help me grapple with the length, width and depth of the problem as it exists."

Lord Justice Leveson said he would not have accepted the role had he "the slightest doubt" about his position.

It emerged last week that the judge had attended functions with News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law, but that he had informed Prime Minister David Cameron before his appointment was announced.

Mr Murdoch has been questioned by MPs over allegations of widespread phone-hacking at his group's Sunday tabloid newspaper, the News of the World, which was shut down earlier this month.

Media ethics
The inquiry will stage a preliminary hearing in September, ahead of a series of seminars in October on topics such as the law, media regulation, ethics of journalism and the practice and pressures of investigative reporting.

"At some stage, there needs to be a discussion of what amounts to the public good, to what extent the public interest should be taken into account and by whom," said Lord Justice Leveson.




Similar seminars would be held later in relation to press relationships with police and politicians, and on the plurality of the media and cross-media ownership, he said.

A second section of the inquiry, looking into specific phone-hacking allegations, will begin only once police investigations have been completed.

However, Martin Moore, from research group the Media Standards Trust, said detail was needed about how opinions of the public and hacking victims would be heard.

The role of the Metropolitan Police has come under the microscope since the phone-hacking scandal arose, with allegations that officers took money from the News of the World for information and claims that the force did not investigate phone-hacking allegations thoroughly enough.

Sir Paul Stephenson resigned as Commissioner of the Met after it emerged that the paper's former executive editor Neil Wallis had been employed by Scotland Yard as a public relations consultant.

Sir Paul, who said he had had no knowledge of the extent of the phone hacking, said lessons needed to be learned but that he was leaving with his integrity intact.

His temporary replacement, Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin, was being questioned on Thursday by members of the Metropolitan Police Authority.

He told them that corruption was "in no way endemic" in the force.

However, he added: "It would be foolish for me if I didn't acknowledge the perceptions that have been created over the past weeks."

Media hospitality
Mr Godwin said the Met should therefore examine its media relations and promised it would publish detailed records of gifts and hospitality provided for senior officers by media organisations "within weeks".

Keith Vaz, who as Home Affairs committee chairman criticised the Met for failing to prioritise the interests of hacking victims, said the public inquiry would take much longer than the 12 months initially envisaged.

Lord Justice Leveson would want to "write the script" for press regulation and future relations between the media and public figures, said Mr Vaz.

The MP also called for a meeting between the judge and committee chairmen involved in the various Parliamentary inquiries into the affair to ensure they did not "tread on his toes".

Read More

News of the World executives to appear before Parliament

The two senior News International figures said Mr Murdoch was "mistaken" when he claimed he was not shown an email containing evidence of phone hacking.

Proprietor's son said he did not know about crucial email
The "For Neville" email refers to Neville Thurbeck, the paper's chief reporter, and was sent by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator hired by the News of the World to intercept voicemail messages.
It is at the heart of the scandal as it appears to show that News International was aware that phone hacking was more widespread than a single "rogue reporter".
Mr Crone and Mr Myler say they showed the email to Mr Murdoch before he sanctioned the decision to pay £700,000 to Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, after Mr Taylor claimed his phone had been hacked.
Mr Murdoch told the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee that it was "a matter of deep regret" that he had not been shown the email before making the decision. News International said he stood by his testimony.

A source on the committee told the Independent: "We will probably recall Colin Myler and Tom Crone to give evidence again."
It also emerged that Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, discussed the possibility of Rupert Murdoch sponsoring one of the government's flagship academies during a meeting with the media mogul.
Mr Gove, a former journalist for The Times, Murdoch paper, has met his former employer six times since taking office, more than any other Cabinet minister.
Nothing appears to have come of the discussion and News Corp has not announced any plans to sponsor an academy.
The revelation came as the phone hacking scandal threatened to spread beyond News International to Trinity Mirror, which owns the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror.
Piers Morgan, the former editor of the Daily Mirror, faced allegations that his paper printed stories based on voicemails intercepted from Ulrika Jonsson's and Heather Mills's voicemails.
Mr Morgan has consistently denied that he knew about phone hacking or had ever authorised it and yesterday described critics as "lying smearers".

 

Read More

Trinity Mirror has announced a review of editorial "controls and procedures" following the phone-hacking scandal.

The company said it was being conducted in the light of the current environment rather than a specific allegation.

The BBC has found evidence of possible hacking at the Sunday Mirror, and there are separate claims Daily Mirror journalists hacked voicemails.

The group said its journalists work within the criminal law and Press Complaints Commission code of conduct.

The review comes after former Mirror editor Piers Morgan demanded an apology from Tory MP Louise Mensch for claiming in Parliament he had admitted using phone hacking to get stories when he was editor.

Mrs Mensch made the remarks during the Commons culture, media and sport committee hearing last week while questioning News Corporation bosses Rupert and James Murdoch and former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.

Mr Morgan, the Mirror's editor between 1995 and 2004, denies sanctioning any phone hacking.

BBC's Newsnight programme has spoken to a journalist who worked on the Sunday Mirror in the past decade who claimed to have witnessed routine phone hacking in the newsroom.

The source said celebrities including actress Liz Hurley and footballer Rio Ferdinand were targeted and the technique was used on a daily basis.

'Clear position'
Last weekend former Daily Mirror journalist James Hipwell told an Australian newspaper he was willing to testify that in the late 1990s Mirror journalists were told to go through the voicemails of celebrities to look for stories.

Hipwell has served time in prison for writing about companies whose shares he owned.


Piers Morgan has denied sanctioning the hacking of phones
A Trinity Mirror spokesman said: "These are totally unsubstantiated allegations and our position is clear: all our journalists work within the criminal law and the Press Complaints Commission Code of Conduct."

The spokesman confirmed the review of editorial controls and procedures was announced on Monday, and said it would apply to all titles across the group which also include the People, Daily Record, Sunday Mail and more than 160 regional newspapers.

The company's director of corporate communications, Nick Fullagar, added: "In light of recent events, we thought it was timely to look at our controls and procedures. Clearly, after any significant event, it's just good corporate governance."

Trinity Mirror last carried out a review of editorial procedures in 2004 following the Hutton Report, the findings of Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the company confirmed it had taken on law firm Herbert Smith to help with preparations ahead of the Leveson inquiry - the wide-ranging judge-led investigation into wrongdoing in the media and police.

Read More

Tom Watson, the Labour MP who helped expose phone hacking, has warned that the illegal interception of emails will be the next big scandal to emerge

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Watson said he believed the illegal practices were restricted to the News International newspaper titles and not representative of the wider industry.
He also warned David Cameron, the Prime Minister, against rushing through legislation to deal with the crisis and said the current system of self-regulation by newspapers should remain.
Mr Watson has been pursuing News International for more than two years in a campaign which led to the disclosure that the mobile phone of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl, had been hacked. Today, he says he will continue to try to “force the truth” from News International and says that the scandal could move into a new area – email hacking – in the coming months.
“I’ve got to be careful what I say but Glenn Mulcaire was a blagger and a phone hacker,” he said.
“There are other private investigators who have different skills and when they come under scrutiny it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if it is discovered that there are people who know about how to plant Trojans on hard drives on computers to obtain email information, which in many senses is a far more serious crime.”

 

Read More

Four elderly Kenyans have been told they can sue the Foreign Office for their alleged torture by British colonial authorities 50 years ago.

The High Court said the group could seek damages over their treatment during the 1950s and 60s.

Mr Justice McCombe said the claimants had an "arguable case" and it would be "dishonourable" to block the action.

Ministers say the UK government is not responsible for the actions of the colonial administration.

The decision means that the government will have to defend accusations of torture, murder, sexual assault and other alleged abuses at a full damages trial in 2012.

The four Kenyans, Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambugu Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara, all in their 70s and 80s, say ministers in London approved systematic abuse in special camps. A fifth claimant has died since the action began.


The High Court heard that Mr Mutua and Mr Nzili had been castrated, Mr Nyingi was beaten unconscious in an incident in which 11 men were clubbed to death, and Mrs Mara had been subjected to appalling sexual abuse.

Mr Justice McCombe said in his judgement there was "ample evidence" to show there may have been "systematic torture of detainees during the Emergency".

"I emphasise that I have not found that there was systematic torture in the Kenyan camps nor that, if there was, the UK government is liable to detainees, such as the claimants, for what happened.

"I have simply decided that these five claimants have arguable cases in law and on the facts as presently known."

Lost documents
The trial is expected to include critical material from some 17,000 previously lost documents which were discovered earlier this year in the Foreign Office's archives.

The papers include detailed reports of atrocities which were sent to ministers in the 1950s and 1960s.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis

Professor David Anderson

"This really is a landmark case. Firstly, for the Kenyans themselves, it is seen as a major statement of principle.

"For many years in Kenya there has been a great resentment about Britain's failure to acknowledge what happened. Many in Kenya will be very relieved to have had this judgement.

"It also has implications for Britain's imperial past. As a nation, we have been not very good at facing up to that history and I think this will help us do that and repair our reputation with our former colonies.

"As well as the claimants named in this case, there are others in Kenya who suffered a similar fate. My best guess is that there may be as many as 1,400."

Some of the documents implicate British colonial officials in abuse at detention camps which were set up to smash the pre-independence uprising.

Professor David Anderson of Oxford University, who unearthed the documents, is working with other experts to log the potential evidence.

So far, the names of a further 600 apparent victims have been found in the papers, all of whom could theoretically sue if they are alive.

Martyn Day, solicitor for the Kenyans, said the ruling was a historic judgement.

"Over 50 years ago our clients suffered the most terrible torture at the hands of the British Colonial regime," he said.

"Our clients have been battling for years to obtain justice for what they endured. Our government has seemed hell-bent on preventing that happening.

"They want some sort of justice, an apology, some sort of money that would give them peace in their final years."

Government fights on
Foreign Office minister Henry Bellingham said: "It is right that those who feel they have a case are free to take it to the courts. We understand the pain and grievance felt by those, on all sides, who were involved in the divisive and bloody events of the emergency period in Kenya.


Mau Mau suspects were rounded up in camps
"Despite today's judgment, the government will continue to defend fully these proceedings, given the length of time elapsed and the complex legal and constitutional questions the case raises."

But Gitu Wa Kahengeri of the Mau Mau War Veterans' Association told the BBC's Focus on Africa that he welcomed the ruling.

The British were becoming "just people" and the veterans expected "reasonable compensation", he said.

"They tortured our people, raped our people, castrated our people," he said. "There is no evil they did not do. These atrocities are the cause of the case. We want them to pay for that," Mr Wa Kahengeri said.

Mr Justice McCombe has given the government until the autumn to prepare a defence and additional arguments that the case is too old to be heard.

Read More

Labour MP Tom Watson says he will ask the police to investigate evidence given by News International chairman James Murdoch after it was called into question by two former executives.

Mr Murdoch told the culture committee he had not been "aware" of an email suggesting the practice went wider than a "rogue" News of the World reporter.

But ex-NoW editor Colin Myler and legal manager Tom Crone said they told him.

Mr Murdoch later said he "stands by his testimony" to the committee on Tuesday.

Mr Watson said he was going to formally bring it to the attention of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, who is leading Operating Weeting, the investigation into phone hacking.

He told the BBC: "This is the most significant moment of two years of investigation into phone hacking."

Mr Watson said: "

At the committee hearing on Tuesday, Labour's Tom Watson asked Mr Murdoch: "When you signed off the Taylor payment, did you see or were you made aware of the full email suggesting hacking was more widespread than had been admitted."

Mr Murdoch replied: "No, I was not aware of that at the time".

He went on: "There was every reason to settle the case, given the likelihood of losing the case and given the damages - we had received counsel - that would be levied."

In their statement issued on Thursday Mr Myler and Crone said: "Just by way of clarification relating to Tuesday's CMS select committee hearing, we would like to point out that James Murdoch's recollection of what he was told when agreeing to settle the Gordon Taylor litigation was mistaken.

"In fact, we did inform him of the 'for Neville' email which had been produced to us by Gordon Taylor's lawyers."

In a statement issued by News Corporation, Mr Murdoch said: "I stand by my testimony to the select committee."

Meanwhile, the BBC has learned the FBI plans to contact actor Jude Law following claims his mobile phone was hacked during a visit to the US.

It is alleged a story published by the News of the World in 2003 was based on information obtained from his voicemail which, if proved, could lead to charges in the US because his phone would have been operating on a US network. News International denies the claims.

Read More

Neil Wallis met Andy Coulson in Downing Street

figure at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal was invited to a meeting in Downing Street after David Cameron became Prime Minister.

Neil Wallis visited the PM’s then communications chief Andy Coulson in No 10 at the end of May last year. Mr Wallis, nicknamed The Wolfman, was Mr Coulson’s deputy when he was editor of the News of the World.

The disclosure increased pressure on Mr Cameron, who was also facing questions over why Mr Coulson did not face rigorous security checks into his background.


 Neil Wallis leaves Hammersmith police station after his arrest a week ago

A No 10 source admitted Mr Wallis, who was arrested last week on suspicion of conspiring to intercept mobile phone messages, had briefly visited Mr Coulson on May 26, three weeks after Mr Cameron arrived in Downing Street.

The exact nature of the visit is unknown, but the source said the meeting was likely to have been ‘social’ because the two men were good friends.

They added that Mr Cameron did not meet Mr Wallis during the visit.

 

The Tories also revealed that Mr Wallis was brought in to advise members of the public who appeared in one of the party’s election campaigns about how to deal with media attention. A spokesman said his advice was ‘informal and voluntary’.

Mr Wallis has become an increasingly controversial figure in the phone hacking scandal after it emerged that he had been hired as a PR consultant to the Metropolitan Police.


Difficult: David Cameron is still facing awkward questions about how he came to hire Andy Coulson

His links with Mr Coulson and the Tory party have proved awkward for Mr Cameron, who has been under fire over his decision to bring the former News of the World editor into the heart of Government.

And Labour turned up the heat on the PM by asking who had decided that Mr Coulson was granted only mid-level security clearance when he was appointed.

Mr Coulson’s successor Craig Oliver and his predecessors Alastair Campbell, Dave Hill and Michael Ellam, who did the same job for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, were subjected to more rigorous checks which aim to uncover potentially damaging secrets in an employee’s background.

The checks would have involved a review of his personal finances and cross-examination by investigators of referees, who could include friends and family.

 

Read More

James Murdoch’s evidence challenged

There has been a potentially important development in respect of who knew what and when about the full extent of hacking and wrongdoing at the News of the World.

Read this statement issued tonight on behalf of Colin Myler, former editor of the News of the World, and Tom Crone, former legal manager of the News of the World:

"Just by way of clarification relating to Tuesday's Culture Media and Sport Select Committee hearing, we would like to point out that James Murdoch's recollection of what he was told when agreeing to settle the Gordon Taylor litigation was mistaken. In fact, we did inform him of the 'for Neville' email which had been produced to us by Gordon Taylor's lawyers."

Before I go on, I should point out that News Corp has responded as follows: "James Murdoch stands by his testimony to the select committee".

So what is this "he said, she said" dispute all about?

Well, the 'for Neville' email was an email handed by the police to the lawyers of Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, the footballers' union, who was suing the News of the World for invading his privacy by hacking into his mobile telephone.

The email implied the News of the World's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, was implicated in malpractices at the News of the World. It therefore suggested that News International's official position at the time, to the effect that hacking was confined to the activities of one reporter, Clive Goodman - the former News of the World royal editor, jailed for hacking in 2007 - may not have been true.

James Murdoch has said he reached an out of court settlement with Mr Taylor, estimated to have been worth more than £600,000 to Mr Taylor including his legal expenses, without knowledge that hacking and wrongdoing at the News of the World may have gone wider than Mr Goodman's activities.

In a statement issued on July 7, he said he "did not have a complete picture" when authorising the Gordon Taylor settlement. He added: "this was wrong and a matter of serious regret".

On Tuesday, in giving evidence to the select committee, Mr Murdoch went further: he said that the "for Neville" email had been concealed from him by Mr Crone and Mr Myler, when he authorised the settlement with Mr Taylor.

So it is significant that tonight Mr Crone and Mr Myler are saying that they did inform him of the "for Neville" email.

 

Read More

The independent directors of News Corp have appointed their own legal team as the company faces shareholder law suits and an investigation by the US authorities.

News Corp's nine independent directors include Rod Eddington, the former chief executive of BA, John Thornton, former president of Goldman Sachs and José María Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain.

Another board member, billionaire investor Tom Perkins, has told the Wall Street Journal the directors have appointed law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, to advise them on the handling of the escalating phone-hacking crisis.

Perkins said: "The board honestly thinks Rupert is a genius and we need him and the company needs him. Our worry is the shareholders at this point. The British police will take care of the hacking victims. The next step is not to let the company go down the drain on this thing because we're focused on events in London that are a small percentage of our business overall."

But the move clearly signals growing tension at News Corp, which already faces one law suit from shareholders who have seen the value of their investment plummet following the revelation of the scandal. It has had a profound impact on the Murdochs' reputation and the company's share price, wiping close to $6bn off its value in the last 10 days.

The move came as Manifest, a leading company advising shareholders on corporate governance, called for Murdoch to step down following his performance at the parliamentary inquiry.

Shares in News Corp rose on rumours that Chase Carey, chief operating officer, was set to succeed Murdoch as chief executive of the company. Murdoch is News Corp's chairman as well as CEO and its largest shareholder. He would remain chairman under the plan, which was first reported by Bloomberg. But Murdoch ruled out any plans to step down, at the hearing saying he was "the best person to clear this up."

At the parliamentary hearing Murdoch pointed out that the scandal occurred at a newspaper that represented just 1% of News Corp's business.

Sarah Wilson, managing director of Manifest, which advises institutional shareholders with £3 trillion in investments, said: "Shareholders may be concerned about Rupert Murdoch's ability to steer an organisation of such immense size and complexity. There are succession issues to be addressed."

Manifest's statement follows a call from corporate governance group PIRC for James Murdoch, Murdoch's heir apparent, to step down as chairman of BSkyB. "Other investors share our opinion," it said in a statement. "The risk of contagion is great. … How, in reality, can someone facing challenges on all sides expect to devote sufficient attention to chairing a FTSE 100?" On Monday, credit agency Standard & Poor's put News Corp's credit rating on watch, citing the risks associated with widening legal investigations in Britain and the US. Rich Greenfield, media analyst at BTIG, said that the Murdochs' control of News Corp had long been a handicap to the company's share price. "The stock trades at a discount to its peers," he said. He said the company's dual class share structure, in which the sahres conrolled by Murdoch have greater voting rights, had long been off putting to investors. But he said that there was no evidence that the scandal was affecting News Corp's other assets. "People are still watching Fox and going to see their movies," he said.

Claire Enders, founder and chief executive of media researcher Enders Analysis, said: "Clearly there are a lot of shareholders who are freaked out. It's hard not to see US shareholders looking at the Murdochs and seeing them as responsible." She said:

"There are now credibility issues that will hang over the Murdochs come what may."

The UK phone hacking scandal is now being investigated by the US authorities

Read More

A phone-hacking suspect used to work as informer for senior detectives while he was the chief crime reporter at the News of the World.

Neville Thurlbeck, a senior reporter and news editor at the paper, passed on information to detectives and was given access to data from the Police National Computer to help with stories in return.
The activities will trigger fresh concerns over links between the now defunct tabloid and the Metropolitan Police.
It emerged yesterday that a senior executive at the News of the World moonlighted as an interpreter for the Metropolitan Police for 20 years while still at the newspaper.
Alex Marunchak, an executive editor on the Sunday tabloid, worked for the force between 1980 and 2000 translating for Ukrainian suspects.
Mr Thurlbeck, who was arrested on suspicion of illegally accessing voicemail messages in April, worked as an unpaid police source under the code name "George".

 

Read More

News Corp board shocked at evidence of payments to police, says former DPP

"Blindingly obvious" evidence of corrupt payments to police officers was found by the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, when he inspected News of the World emails, the home affairs select committee was told.

Explaining how he had been called in by solicitors acting for Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation board, Lord Macdonald said that when he inspected the messages it took him between "three to five minutes" to decide that the material had to be passed to police.

"The material I saw was so blindingly obvious that trying to argue that it should not be given to the police would have been a hard task. It was evidence of serious criminal offences."

He first showed it to the News Corp board in June this year. "There was no dissent," he recalled. "They were stunned. They were shocked. I said it was my unequivocal advice that it should be handed to the police. They accepted that."

That board meeting, the former DPP said, was chaired by Rupert Murdoch.

Lord Macdonald shortly afterwards gave the material to Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick at the Metropolitan police. The nine or 10 emails passed over led to the launch of Operation Elveden, the police investigation into corrupt payments to officers for information.

Lord Macdonald, who had been in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service when the phone-hacking prosecution of the NoW's royal correspondent took place, said he had only been alerted to the case due to the convention that the DPP is always notified of crimes involving the royal family.

Members of the committee were highly critical of the CPS's narrow definition of what constituted phone hacking, claiming that it was at odds with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

Mark Reckless, the Conservative MP for Rochester, said that the original police investigation was hindered by the advice from the CPS that phone hacking was only an offence if messages had been intercepted before they were listened to by the intended recipient. However, Reckless said, a clause in the RIPA makes it an offence to hack in to messages even if they have already been heard.

Keir Starmer, the current DPP, said that the police had been told that "the RIPA legislation was untested". Listening to messages before they had been heard by the intended recipient was illegal, the police were told, but the question of whether intercepting them afterwards constituted a crime was "untested", he said.

Mark Lewis, the solicitor who has followed the scandal since its start, said he was the first person to lose his job over the affair when the firm in which he was a partner said it no longer wished him to pursue other victims' claims.

Lewis also told MPs that he had been threatened by lawyers acting for John Yates, the former assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan police, because of comments he had made about phone hacking.

"I have copies of a letter from Carter Ruck [solicitors] threatening to sue me on behalf of John Yates," Lewis told the home affairs select committee. He said the Guardian and the Labour MP Chris Bryant had also received threats of being sued. "The costs of the action were paid for by the Metropolitan Police, by the taxpayer," he added.

Lewis said the reason for the investigation taking so long was not due solely to the police. "The DPP seems to have got it wrong and needs to be helped out," he said.

 

Read More

The former News of the World deputy editor arrested last week over allegations of phone hacking was an adviser to the Conservative party before the election.

Neil Wallis helped the prime minister's director of communications, Andy Coulson, in 2009, as they prepared for the general election campaign.

A source said Wallis worked on a "short-term project" believed to have lasted around a week although he did not receive payment.

It is understood Wallis, who was Coulson's deputy when he edited the News of the World, was advising on how best to get coverage in tabloid newspapers on a "specific" policy proposal.

It is not known whether Wallis attended Conservative party central headquarters and the party would not disclose details about the issue on which he worked. A party source insisted, however, that it had nothing to do with phone hacking. "It was uncontroversial," he added.

A Tory party spokesman said Wallis's involvement emerged over the weekend when the party was asked by a journalist whether the former tabloid executive had ever been paid for work by the party.

He added that the prime minister was only made aware of Wallis's work in recent days.

The spokesman said: "It has been drawn to our attention that [Wallis] may have provided Andy Coulson with some informal advice on a voluntary basis before the election. We are currently finding out the exact nature of any advice.

"We can confirm that apart from Andy Coulson, neither David Cameron nor any senior member of the campaign team were aware of this until this week."

The shadow culture secretary, Ivan Lewis, said: "This revelation raises further serious concerns about David Cameron's judgment in appointing Andy Coulson.

"He must now come clean about Neil Wallis's role and activities in supporting Andy Coulson, both in his capacity as director of communications for the Tory party, and then the prime minister."

Read More

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation assaulted wife comes to the rescue

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, on Tuesday denied responsibility for alleged phone hacking at his News of the World newspaper but admitted to a committee of MPs that the heads of his British business had failed to inform him of key developments as the scandal unfolded.
Mr Murdoch, flanked by his son James, described his appearance before the media select committee as “the most humble day of my life”.

He said that he was “clearly” misled by his staff after originally claiming that phone hacking was the work of a small number of rogue employees, following the first police investigation into the practice in 2007.
Questioned by Tom Watson, the Labour MP, Mr Murdoch said that he was not informed about allegations that News of the World employees made payments to police, given that News International made up only a small part of his News Corp empire. “The News of the World perhaps I lost sight of because it was so small in the general frame of our company,” he said.
“This is not as an excuse. Maybe it’s an explanation of my laxity… I employ 53,000 people around the world.”
Rupert Murdoch often struggled to hear questions and attempted to defer several answers to his son, but was prevented from doing so by questioners. Shares in News Corp rose around 4 per cent in New York at the time of the hearing, amid reports that some shareholders were pushing for Chase Carey, its chief operating officer, to replace Mr Murdoch as chief executive.
Mr Murdoch said he was informed of the conviction of Clive Goodman, the News of the World’s royal correspondent, but was not made aware of further allegations of misconduct by senior reporters, involving blackmail, and lawyers’ apparent mishandling of e-mails.
He said he was also unaware of settlement payments in the hundreds of thousands of pounds made to some victims of phone hacking, which were approved by his son James.
Further, he claimed he was unaware that a previous committee of MPs had found News International executives guilty of “collective amnesia”.
“It is revealing in itself what he doesn’t know and what executives chose to tell him,” Mr Watson said of the News Corp chief.
The phone hacking scandal has gripped the British public public, many of whom spent the afternoon grouped around televisions in pubs, and generated dozens of related messages on Twitter every second, according to Tweetminster.
James Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer at News Corp and head of its international business, opened proceedings by apologising to the victims of phone hacking, although he was denied the opportunity to read out a prepared statement. “It’s a matter of great regret of mine and my father’s and everyone at News Corp.”
Quizzed over out of court settlements, he said he took the decision to sanction the payments over phone hacking in 2007 – including one of £700,000 to a hacking victim – confident that the issue had been dealt with following the arrest and prosecution of Clive Goodman, royal reporter at the News of the World, and Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator.
In a series of questions which revealed that he did not have a handle on the internal machinations of News International during the 2006-2007 phone hacking case, James Murdoch said he did not know whether News International paid legal fees for Mr Goodman’s defence in 2007, before he became its chief executive. He said that after that time: “I was very surprised to find that the company had made certain contributions to legal fees.”
Rupert Murdoch said that Les Hinton, the former News International chief who resigned as chief executive of News Corp’s Dow Jones last week, “could have been” responsible for sanctioning the payments.
The pair said that Mr Hinton would have been paid a “considerable” sum on his departure but that any confidentiality agreements would not stop a him from co-operating fully” with legal investigations.
James Murdoch said there had been no “immediate plans” on whether to launch another Sunday paper – expected to be called the Sun on Sunday – to fill the yawning gap left by the News of the World. “We leave the options open that is no the company’s priority now, in the past week it has come up but...[it is] not the time to be worrying about that.”
Ahead of the hearing, committee chairman John Whittingdale, referring to comments made by James Murdoch as he announced the closure of the News of the World, said: “The reason we have asked James Murdoch in particular is that he has publicly stated that we have been misled. We want to know who misled us.”
Before the culture committee quizzed News International executives, the home affairs select committee began questioning the two senior Metropolitan Police officers who have both quit within the past 36 hours as the scandal deepens.

Read More

Detectives are examining a computer, paperwork and a phone found in a bin near the riverside London home of Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International.

The Guardian has learned that a bag containing the items was found in an underground car park in the Design Centre at the exclusive Chelsea Harbour development on Monday afternoon.

The car park, under a shopping centre, is yards from the gated apartment block where Brooks lives with her husband, a former racehorse trainer and close friend of the prime minister David Cameron.

It is understood the bag was handed into security at around 3pm and that shortly afterwards, Brooks's husband, Charlie, arrived and tried to reclaim it. He was unable to prove the bag was his and the security guard refused to release it.

Instead, it is understood that the security guard called the police. In less than half an hour, two marked police cars and an unmarked forensics car are said to have arrived at the scene.

Police are now examining CCTV footage taken in the car park to uncover who dropped the bag. Initial suspicions that there had been a break in at the Brooks' flat have been dismissed.

David Wilson, Charlie Brooks's official spokesman, told the Guardian that Charlie Brooks denies that the bag belonged to his wife. "Charlie has a bag which contains a laptop and papers which were private to him," said Wilson.

"They were nothing to do with Rebekah or the [phone-hacking] case."

Wilson said Charlie Brooks had left the bag with a friend who was returning it, but dropped it in the wrong part of the garage. When asked how the bag ended up in a bin he replied: "The suggestion is that a cleaner thought it was rubbish and put it in the bin." Wilson added: "Charlie was looking for it together with a couple of the building staff.

"Charlie was told it had gone to security, by which stage they [security] had already called the police to say they had found something.

"The police took it away. Charlie's lawyers got in touch with the police to say they could take a look at the computer but they'd see there was nothing relevant to them on it. He's expecting the stuff back forthwith."

Rebekah Brooks was arrested on Sunday under suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, and of corrupting police officers. She is due to appear before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee today on Tuesday afternoon.

Read More

John Yates allegedly secured work at Scotland Yard for the daughter of former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis a source claimed this evening.

On the day Yates resigned as assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, he was also referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over his alleged involved in helping a friend's daughter get a job.

It understood that this woman is Wallis's daughter but neither the Met or IPCC would confirm this.


Allegations: Sources have revealed this evening that John Yates allegedly secured work for the daughter of Neil Wallis

The revelations come hours after the IPCC said it was launching an investigation into four former and serving senior Metropolitan Police officers over their handling of the phone hacking scandal.

Five issues have been referred to the IPCC, including questions about the conduct of both Yates and Sir Paul Stephenson, who resigned last night.

 

As well as the revelation he employed Wallis's daughter, the inquiry will also considering Yates's decision in 2009 that there was no need to re-open the hacking inquiry.


Also involved: Ex-assistant commissioner Andy Hayman is another former officer who is being investigated by the IPCC

The IPCC refused to give any more details about the details of the referral.

The Metropolitan Police Authority has also asked the watchdog to examine the conduct of two former senior Met officers involved in the original phone-hacking investigation.

It is understood they are ex-assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, who was in ultimate charge of the 2006 inquiry and later become a columnist with News International title The Times, and ex-deputy assistant commissioner Peter Clarke, who oversaw the investigation.

IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass said: 'The role of the Met Police in its original investigation into phone hacking has rightly come under huge public scrutiny.

'These matters are already the subject of a judge-led public inquiry announced on July 13 which is looking into the way in which police investigated allegations of conduct by persons connected to News International.

'I now need to assess these referrals carefully to determine what should be investigated at this stage, bearing in mind the judicial inquiry, and I will seek to liaise with Lord Justice Leveson as soon as possible.

'I will publish our terms of reference once I have carefully reviewed the material referred to us.

'To the extent that these referrals raise serious allegations about senior Met officers, it is right that they be independently investigated - and I will ensure that our investigation follows the evidence without fear or favour.

'It must also be right that people do not rush to judgment until that work is done.'

Read More

Honeymoon murder suspect facing extradition to South Africa is deemed too 'fragile' to face British court

British man accused of arranging for his wife to be murdered while they were on honeymoon in South Africa would be considered unfit to stand trial if he was facing a British court, his extradition hearing has been told.

Shrien Dewani faces being sent back to South Africa to be put on trial for allegedly conspiring to kill his wife, Anni, in a fake carjacking in Cape Town. However, he has been diagnosed as suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and his barrister, Clare Montgomery QC, argued that if he was facing domestic proceedings he would be "simply unfit to stand trial".

Dewani, who is being treated in a medium secure hospital, was excused from staying in court to hear proceedings after Montgomery claimed it would be "inhuman" to force him to remain.

Montgomery said Dewani had had to begin his journey from the Fromeside hospital in Bristol to Woolwich crown court in east London, where the extradition hearing is taking place, at 4am every morning he was required to appear. Travelling by car, being exposed to loud noises and the presence of other people exacerbated his condition, Montgomery said. Dewani sat in the dock looking dishevelled and confused as Montgomery asked for him to be allowed to leave.

District judge Howard Riddle accepted that Dewani's health was "fragile" and agreed that in the "exceptional" circumstances he could be excused from attending. Dewani was led from the dock looking unsteady on his feet and disoriented.

Anni Dewani, 28, was shot dead in the back of a taxi in Cape Town on 13 November after a hijacking alleged to have been staged by Dewani and three other men.

Dewani, from Bristol, and his family, who run a successful string of care homes, deny strongly he had any involvement in his wife's death. But the South African authorities insist that he should return to Cape Town to be put on trial.

Over the next three days Judge Riddle is to hear claims from Dewani's lawyers that he is too ill to be extradited. Dewani's team is also claiming that his human rights would be infringed if he were sent back because he would not receive the treatment he needed in South Africa's prisons as he awaited trial and if he was convicted of the crime.

Judge Deon Hurter Van Zyl, who heads an independent inspectorate that monitors conditions in South African prisons, was asked by Montgomery about gang and sexual violence. She suggested to him that most prisoners were sexually assaulted even before they actually reached prison in holding cells, police stations and vehicles as part of "initiation" rites.

Van Zyl accepted there were many problems within the system and staff lacked pride, commitment and dedication. He also told the court inmates with mental health conditions mixed with other prisoners and there were not sufficient facilities for dealing with those who suffered from psychiatric problems.

At an earlier stage of the hearing in May, the court was told Dewani would be particularly vulnerable to attacks in prison because of his good looks, the fact that a woman was his alleged victim and allegations – denied by his family – that he is gay.

The South African authorities have stipulated which prisons Dewani would be held in while awaiting trial and if convicted and insist he would be safe and cared for. But the court has also heard that future governments would not be bound by any promises made now.

Also at the May hearing, the South African authorities revealed they had a witness who would claim that seven months before the killing Dewani had said he "needed to find a way out" of the marriage. The witness claimed Dewani had said he would be disowned by his family if he broke off the engagement with Anni.

Dewani's family insist the marriage was a happy one.

Dewani is wanted for kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances, conspiracy to commit murder and obstructing the administration of justice. The extradition hearing is being heard by Westminster magistrates, sitting at Woolwich crown court.

 

Read More

John Whittingdale: I am not too close to Murdochs

John Whittingdale, who will be in the chair when MPs question Rupert and James Murdoch tomorrow, had to fend off accusations yesterday that he was too close to the pair.

The Conservative chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee defended his contacts with Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton, two senior figures in the Murdoch empire who have resigned over the hacking scandal

 

Read More

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has indicated that the assistant commissioner of the Met, John Yates, will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Authority.

The MPA's Professional Standards committee will meet on Monday morning, Johnson said, where "questions surrounding other officers" will be discussed.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Johnson also said that he was "very, very angry" that City Hall was not told about the Metropolitan Police's employment of Neil Wallis, the former-News of The World executive arrested last week.

"Clearly there are now questions about [Yates'] relationship with Wallis and all the rest of it and I'm sure that the MPA is going to be having a look at it."

However Johnson said that he did not tell Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson to resign.

The mayor said that "there was a real sense of disappointment in City Hall" and that he felt personally "hacked off" when the relationship between Wallis and the Met was revealed. He said that he and Stephenson had discussed police corruption several weeks ago, and said that at the time he felt the issue was "the dog that hadn't barked".

Johnson praised Stephenson as a "very proud, passionate policeman" and said that he had resigned because he didn't want the Met or the commissioner to be "distracted" by questions surrounding phone hacking.

He added that as a victim of phone hacking he "won't shed a tear" if those responsible are convicted.

Read More

John Yates facing 'questions' over Neil Wallis links

The Assistant Commissioner will face “questions” over his links with the newspaper's former deputy editor, Boris Johnson, the London Mayor said.
Just hours after Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner resigned as Britain’s top policeman Mr Yates came come under pressure to explain his links to Mr Wallis.
On Monday, the BBC reported that Mr Yates was the official "tasked with carrying out due diligence before the Metropolitan Police awarded a contract to the firm" operated by Mr Wallis.
It was claimed that Mr Yates "received categorial assurances from (Mr) Wallis that nothing would emerge that would embarrass either of them or the commissioner".
Earlier, in a radio interview Mr Johnson suggested that Mr Yates, who is in charge of the Yard's anti-terror unit, will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Authority amid calls for his resignation.

 

Read More

Met demands cut-price rates as scandal hots up

Legal advisers have been stunned by the Metropolitan Police requesting rock-bottom hourly rates in its latest panel review, at a time when it faces an increasing chance of court action over its handling of the News International phone-hacking scandal.

The Met’s legal department is seeking rates of a maximum of £130 per hour from firms reappointed to its panel, prompting some to question the quality of service that the new legal roster will provide.

 

Read More

phone-hacking scandal centered on Rupert Murdoch's News Corp cost Britain's top policeman his job and renewed questions on Monday about Prime Minister David Cameron's judgment.

In another major development in a scandal that has shaken Britons' faith in the police, press and political leaders, detectives arrested Rebekah Brooks, former head of News Corp's British newspaper arm, on suspicion of intercepting communications and corruption.

The flame-haired Brooks, who once edited the News of the World tabloid, was released on bail at midnight on Sunday, about 12 hours after she went to a London police station to be arrested, her spokesman said. Brooks has denied any wrongdoing.

Analysts said the gathering pace of heads rolling had turned up the heat on Cameron and Murdoch over their handling of the scandal, with the media tycoon due to be questioned by parliament in a possible showdown on Tuesday.

The News of the World, which published its final edition a week ago, is alleged to have hacked up to 4,000 phones including that of murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler, sparking a furor that forced Murdoch to close the paper and drop a $12 billion plan to buy all of highly profitable broadcaster BSkyB.

Paul Stephenson, London's police commissioner, quit on Sunday in the face of allegations that police officers had accepted money from the paper and had not done enough to investigate hacking charges that surfaced as far back as 2005.

The trigger for his resignation was revelations he had stayed at a luxury spa at which Neil Wallis, a former News of the World deputy editor, was a public relations adviser. Wallis, also employed by police as a consultant, was arrested last week in connection with the hacking scandal.

"I had no knowledge of the extent of this disgraceful practice (of phone-hacking)," Stephenson said in a televised statement.

Brooks quit on Friday as chief executive of News International, the British unit of Murdoch's News Corp, but has denied she knew of the alleged widespread nature of the hacking.

The scandal has raised concerns not only about unethical media practices but about the influence Murdoch has wielded over British political leaders and allegations of cozy relationships between some of his journalists and police.

Cameron has come under fire for his friendship with Brooks and for employing former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his press secretary after Coulson quit the paper in 2007 following the jailing of a reporter for phone-hacking.

Tim Bale, politics professor at the University of Sussex, said: "It has become almost a crisis of governance in the United Kingdom. (Stephenson's) resignation takes us beyond a few bad apples ... There is a sense of things sliding out of control.

"The actual text of (Stephenson's) statement pointing to parallels between himself and the prime minister is quite breathtaking. It won't make Mr Cameron do the same thing, but it reminds people once again of the Coulson problem."

The opposition Labour Party, which has capitalised on Cameron's discomfort, seized on Stephenson's reference to the Coulson appointment in his resignation speech.

"It is striking that Sir Paul Stephenson has taken responsibility and answered questions about the appointment of the deputy editor of the News of the World," Labour home affairs spokeswoman Yvette Cooper said.

"The prime minister still refuses to recognize his misjudgment and answer questions on the appointment of the editor of the News of the World at the time of the initial phone hacking investigation."

Cameron took office last May at the head of a Conservative-led coalition that has made cleaning up the public finances its priority.

GLOBAL CONCERN

With politicians from Australia to the United States demanding to know if similar abuses occurred elsewhere in Murdoch's global media business, the 80-year-old has been forced on the defensive and the position of his son James as heir-apparent has been called into question.

Brooks and Rupert and James Murdoch are due to be questioned by parliament on Tuesday, including over reports that News International misled legislators during earlier hearings.

But Brooks's spokesman said her arrest might cast doubt on whether she could appear before politicians.

"Anything that will be said at the select committee hearing could have implications for the police inquiry," said David Wilson, adding Brooks was "shocked" by the arrest.

The Financial Times reported on Monday that Labour legislator Tom Watson had written to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) asking it to investigate payments he alleged were made by News Corp to cover up the scandal.

A SFO spokesman said he did not know if the letter had been received but that the agency would take such a request "very seriously."

Brooks became the focus of widespread anger over the phone-hacking scandal but was initially protected by Murdoch, who guided her rise through the male-dominated world of UK tabloid journalism to become editor of the News of the World in 2000 and the Sun's first female editor in 2003.

But her initial refusal to quit, and a faltering speech she delivered when she closed the News of the World and ended the careers of dozens of colleagues, prompted some journalists to say she was out of touch.

In 2003, Brooks said the News of the World had made payments to police in the past but could not remember any specific examples.

Murdoch, who some media commentators say at first misjudged the strength of public anger, published apologies in several British newspapers at the weekend.

He lost another loyal executive on Friday when Les Hinton, another former head of his UK newspaper business, resigned as chief executive of Murdoch's Dow Jones & Co which publishes The Wall Street Journal.

Read More

former Murdoch chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, has been bailed

former Murdoch chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, has been bailed after being arrested on charges of conspiring to intercept communications and corruption allegations, thought to be related to payments to police.

The former News International boss was released at midnight local time (9am AEST), 12 hours after she was arrested by appointment at a London police station, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

She is due to return to attend the police station again in October, The Guardian reported.

Read More

Rebekah Brooks in line for £3.5m payout as News International slaps gagging orders on chief executives

 (apart from that inquiry on Tuesday)
Senior News International executives to receive £8.5m severance payout
Final NotW editor, Colin Myler, is believed to be in line for £2m pay-off
Two senior lawyers - Jon Chapman and Tom Crone - will both get around £1.5m
David Cameron met with Murdoch and executives 26 times in a year
Murdoch family row as biographer claims Elizabeth's 'f***** the company' remark was also directed at brother James
Murdoch's right-hand man Les Hinton quits after 52 years
Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks face MPs on Tuesday
FBI probe launched in the US into the alleged hacking of the phones of the 9/11 victims

Read More

The lawyers for senior members of the Royal family face an official inquiry into their role in an alleged cover-up of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

Harbottle & Lewis took possession of hundreds of internal emails from the News of the World in 2007 after being hired by News International.
The firm indicated in a short letter to News International that the emails did not show wider evidence of criminality. This document was relied upon by the publisher during parliamentary inquiries in 2009.
The Daily Telegraph understands that the emails did show evidence of potentially criminal behaviour and have now been passed to the police.
It is unclear whether anyone at News International read the emails before they were given to the lawyers.
A former director of public prosecutions who later reviewed some of the emails is said by News Corp sources to have been extremely suprised by the conclusions of Harbottle & Lewis. Tom Watson, a senior Labour MP, has reported the firm to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the legal watchdog, and asked them to investigate.

Lawrence Abramson, who was managing partner at the firm at the time, is to be called to give evidence to a parliamentary committee.
The disclosure is a major embarrassment for Harbottle & Lewis, which has represented senior members of the Royal family including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York.
The Daily Telegraph understands that the scale of the scandal became clear when News International executives requested the return of the cache of emails from Harbottle & Lewis earlier this year. They had been given to the lawyers in 2007 after a News of the World reporter and a private detective were jailed. At the time, News International said that phone hacking was restricted to a single rogue reporter, although this defence has since been abandoned. The emails were requested to be returned by William Lewis, who had recently been appointed as News International’s general manager. Mr Lewis is said to have been surprised by the contents of the legal file and passed it to another firm, Hickman and Rose Solicitors, for advice.
Hickman Rose hired Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, to provide a report for the News Corp board.
Last night, Lord Macdonald declined to comment on whether he had described the file as a “major scandal”. But he confirmed he found evidence in it of “indirect hacking”, breaches of national security and evidence of serious crime. He said: “The advice by Harbottle & Lewis was incomprehensible.”
Lord Macdonald presented his findings to the board of News Corp last month. He said: “My advice was to go to the police and they did.”
Mr Abramson declined to comment yesterday but said his departure from Harbottle & Lewis last year to another firm was unconnected to his work for News International. Yesterday, Harbottle & Lewis declined to comment.

 

Read More

Rupert Murdoch and his son James last night caved into pressure from David Cameron, Nick Clegg and MPs and agreed to give evidence to a Commons select committee next week.

They will be joined by Rebekah Brooks, the News International Chief Executive, in what will be the most eagerly anticipated hearing at Westminster for decades.
Both Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation’s chairman and chief executive, and James had initially said they would not be attending next Tuesday’s meeting of the Culture Media and Sport Committee.
James, who is News International’s European chairman, said he could only attend at a later date.
But after a six-hour stand off, and with pressure from MPs, the Prime Minister and the deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and faced with being sent a summons by the Serjeant at Arms, both men relented and agreed to attend.
The three executives will face fierce questioning from MPs who have fought a tenacious campaign to expose the phone hacking scandal which has plunged Mr Murdoch’s media into crisis in the space of two weeks.

Among them will be Tom Watson, the Labour MP, who has relentlessly pursued News International and has made clear his own disgust at the behaviour of Mrs Brooks in particular.
Chris Bryant, another Labour member of the committee, said it was vital that the Murdochs were questioned because police chiefs who were investigating phone hacking at the News of the World, this week claimed NI had lied to them.
Mr Bryant added: “I actually think it is a disgrace that no Murdoch has ever appeared before a Select Committee before and that's partly the fault of we politicians, also their fault because they have never volunteered to do so.”
But Louise Mensch, a Tory member of the Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee, said the Murdochs would be treated fairly and with “respect”.
She said: “They have agreed to do it, that shows respect to Parliament and I have been saying it would show guts and leadership to come forward and do this, I am delighted that they have agreed to do it, I think it is the only way forward.
“They have to answer serious questions about News International’s prior evidence to the Committee, and the fact that the heads of the company have chosen to show up, I think, is a positive, positive first step.
“So I’m very pleased and we will make sure that it will not from our end turn into a media circus – the questions are going to be probing but they’re going to be fair.”
The about turn from the Murdochs came after David Cameron, the Prime Minister, piled the pressure on them by saying they should face MPs on the committee. Mr Clegg also said the pair should "do the decent thing" and attend.
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who had previously claimed he was at “war” with Rupert Murdoch made clear his delight at the turn of events.
He said it was “like the end of the dictatorship when everybody discovers they were anti the dictator”.
The Murdochs’ decision to attend the committee came after the pair were issued with a formal summons because they had refused to appear in front of the committee.
The summons was delivered in person by Lawrence Ward, Assistant Serjeant at Arms at the House of Commons to a lawyer representing News Corp at the offices of News International in Wapping.
It was the first time that a summons was issued by Parliamentary committee since 1992 when the Commons social security select committee ordered Kevin and Ian Maxwell to appear to discuss an investigation into the Mirror pension scandal.
Earlier John Whittingdale, the committee’s chairman, had threatended that he would report them to the Commons authorities for being in contempt of Parliament.
Mr Whittingdale said: “We meet on Tuesday at 2.30. There will be three chairs. Either they attend or we will report their failure to attend to the House.”
If Murdochs had been reported for being in contempt of Parliament, Parliament could have issued a formal warrant for them to appear, which would have been served with “the full assistance of the civil authorities, including the police”.
Rupert and James Murdoch, who are both American citizens, are free to leave the UK. However as long as they are in Britain, they are considered “within the jurisdiction of Parliament”, according to the Commons’ rule book Erskine May.
Mrs Brooks warned in a letter to the MPs that she may refuse to answer detailed questions about allegations of phone hacking by the newspapers.
She said: "Given that we are in the midst of an investigation, and we do not want to prejudice it, I hope you will understand why we feel it would not be appropriate to respond to such questions at present in order to be consistent with the police's approach, and that as a result this may prevent me from discussing these matters in detail."

Read More

Scotland Yard has admitted it employed Neil Wallis, a former executive at the News of the World, as an adviser to the commissioner until September 2010.

Wallis was employed to advise Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates on a part-time basis from October 2009 to September 2010. During this time the Yard was saying there was no need to reopen the phone-hacking investigation – a decision made by Yates despite allegations in the Guardian that the first police investigation had been inadequate.

Wallis is a former News of the World executive editor. He was arrested on Thursday morning as part of the police's renewed phone-hacking inquiry.

Wallis joined the News of the World in 2003 as deputy to then editor Andy Coulson. In mid-2007 he became executive editor, eventually leaving the News International title in 2009. Police say he supplied "strategic communication advice". The Met said his company was chosen because it offered to do the work for the lowest price. He was paid £24,000 by Scotland Yard to work as a two-day-a-month consultant.

Relations between senior Met officers and News of the World senior executives have been under scrutiny. In September 2006 Stephenson, as deputy commissioner, accompanied by the Yard's head PR man, Dick Fedorcio, dined with Wallis. This was a month after officers had arrested the paper's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, and at a time when detectives were still attempting to investigate whether other journalists or executives were involved in the interception of voicemail messages. In theory Wallis was a potential suspect in the inquiry.

Scotland Yard said: "Chamy Media, owned by Neil Wallis, former executive editor of the News of the World, was appointed to provide strategic communication advice and support to the MPS, including advice on speechwriting and PR activity, while the Met's deputy director of public affairs was on extended sick leave recovering from a serious illness.

"In line with Metropolitan Police Service/Metropolitan Police Authority procurement procedures, three relevant companies were invited to provide costings for this service on the basis of two days per month. Chamy Media were appointed as they were significantly cheaper than the others. The contract ran from October 2009 until September 2010, when it was terminated by mutual consent.

"The commissioner has made the chair of the police authority aware of this contract."

Read More

Rupert Murdoch's media group News Corporation bowed to pressure from the public and parliament on Wednesday and withdrew its bid to take full control of pay-TV company BSkyB.

All three main political parties were poised to call on News Corp to abandon its offer in a vote in the House of Commons later on Wednesday.

The move leaves News Corp's key strategy for UK corporate growth in tatters. The proposed £8bn deal has been in train for more than a year, with the first offer tabled in June 2010.

It is the one of the biggest setbacks the 80-year-old media mogul has ever suffered and follows 10 days of revelations about the true scale of phone hacking at the News of the World, the paper Murdoch shut down last week.

The decision to abandon the deal is also a major blow to James Murdoch, who is third in command at the company and has responsibility for News Corp's UK businesses, including its Sky stake and News International.

It is likely to lead to criticism from investors over the way the company has handled the phone-hacking affair. James Murdoch initially took charge of the scandal but his father has twice flown in to the UK to oversee matters, most recently at the weekend.

News Corp's deputy chairman and chief operating officer, Chase Carey, said it had become clear that the Sky takeover "is too difficult to progress in this climate".

Carey, who is also News Corp's president, said: "We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate.

"News Corporation remains a committed long-term shareholder in BSkyB. We are proud of the success it has achieved and our contribution to it."

News Corp will have to pay BSkyB a break fee of around £38.5m after walking away from the deal.

BSkyB's share price fell sharply following the announcement that the deal was off. They hit a low of 663.5p, down more than 4% in volatile trading. But they recovered almost all their losses to around 689p at 3.30pm – still below the 700p level at which News Corp originally tabled its bid.

BSkyB shares had been changing hands for 850p at the start of last week. Almost £3bn has been wiped from the value of BSkyB since the Guardian revealed on Monday 4 July that News of the World journalists had hacked into a mobile phone belonging to murdered teenager Milly Dowler.

The decision to walk away from the deal was taken earlier on Wednesday before prime minister's questions, which was followed by an announcement by David Cameron about the details of two separate inquiries, one into phone hacking and the other into media standards.

BSkyB issued a statement noting the News Corp announcement and saying it believed it had "a compelling investment case and significant growth opportunities, as demonstrated by its excellent operational and financial performance and strong balance sheet which provides both strategic and financial flexibility".

"We remain very confident in the broadly based growth opportunity for BSkyB as we continue to add new customers, sell more products, develop our leading position in content and innovation, and expand the contribution from our other businesses," said Jeremy Darroch, the BSkyB chief executive. "I would like to commend all our employees for their unrelenting focus throughout the offer period and thank them for their continuing support."

Nicholas Ferguson, Sky deputy chairman and the senior independent non-executive director, added: "Since the start of the offer period, BSkyB's management team has remained fully focused on its strategic and operational priorities, as evidenced in the strong results reported for the first nine months of the financial year. With good momentum and a range of options for continued growth, BSkyB is well positioned to increase earnings and cash flow and deliver higher returns for shareholders."

Carey was at News International's Wapping offices on the fringes of the City of London briefly, where the decision is believed to have been finalised.

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said withdrawing the bid was the "decent and sensible" thing do to.

The Liberal Democrat leader briefly threatened to cause a coalition split when he declared Murdoch should abandon the Sky offer earlier this week, before Cameron decided he would also back a Labour motion to call for it to be dropped.

The shadow culture secretary, Ivan Lewis, said: "It's a victory for the public of this country, it's a victory for parliament and it's a victory for the tremendous leadership that Ed Miliband has shown."

Read More

Former policeman to sue over alleged harassment

NEWS International is facing the prospect of a deeply damaging court case over claims that its reporters harassed and hacked the phones of a police officer investigating the role of one of the News of the World's hired private investigators in a murder case.
Lawyers for former Scotland Yard detective Dave Cook, right, said he would be suing publishers of the News of the World in what may be only the first law suit against the group following last week's revelations.

The alleged harassment took place when Mr Cook was investigating the 1987 murder of Daniel Morgan, a private investigator found killed outside a south London pub.

The man subsequently accused was Mr Morgan's business partner, Jonathan Rees, who is known to have worked for the News of the World as an investigator, trawling for information from corrupt police officers and bank clerks. Both Mr Cook and his wife, Jacqui Hames, are taking forward the case, a lawyer said yesterday

 

Read More

Refugee law firm fails

Thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers were left without legal support today after the overnight closure of Britain's largest immigration advice service.

The Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) closed its doors on Friday with workers only finding out it had gone into administration when they arrived for work this week.

The closure has been blamed on changes to the legal aid system imposed by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) which previously forced the closure of specialist legal firm Refugee and Migrant Justice last year.

IAS, a not-for-profit charity, had been the largest provider of legal aid in the asylum and immigration market.

It ran 14 offices across England and Scotland and operated outreach services in a number of different locations nationwide.

While IAS was not available for comment a post on the LSC website today stated: "Today, Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) announced that they have gone into administration.

"Our priority now is to work closely with IAS and the administrators to ensure clients of IAS continue to get the help they need, whilst safeguarding public money. We are now identifying alternative advice provision in the areas affected and arrangements for case transfer will follow as soon as possible."

Commenting on the news, Refugee Council chief executive Donna Covey said: "We were alarmed to hear news that the largest charity providing legal advice and representation for asylum-seekers has closed.

"After the sad loss of Refugee and Migrant Justice last year, this news from the IAS is hugely significant and very worrying and we are following events closely.

"Our clients already struggle to find good-quality legal representation.

"This development will only add to their difficulties."

A spokesman for the Law Society said: "While Parliament debates further cuts in legal aid, today's news of the collapse of IAS has left thousands of clients stranded.

"This is the true impact of funding cuts.

"The government claims that not-for-profit organisations like IAS will fill the gaps in public service provision.

"The fact that this is the second such collapse in the sector in less than a year shows that these claims are little more than wishful thinking."

 

Read More

Shareholders sue News Corp for failing to take early action on phone hacking scandal

The lawsuit, filed by Amalgamated Bank and a group of pension funds, accuses News Corp's board of "failing to exercise proper oversight and take sufficient action since news of the hacking first surfaced at its subsidiary nearly six years ago."
The failure of News Corp's board has led to a "piling on of questionable deals, a waste of corporate resources, a starring role in a blockbuster scandal, and a gigantic public relations disaster," said Jay Eisenhofer of Grant & Eisenhofer, the law firm that filed the suit in Delaware.
The legal complaint is an updated version of action that Amalgamated first bought in March, when they accused Mr Murdoch of "rampant nepotism" for paying 415m pounds for Shine, a UK television production company founded by his daughter Elizabeth. News Corp could not immediately be reached for comment.
News Corp's shares plunged more than 6.6pc on opening, as investors digested developments on both sides of the Atlantic.
Rupert Murdoch's biographer had earlier suggested that News Corp could even be mulling a sale of News International in an attempt to calm calls for it to shelve its proposed bid for BSkyB.

 

Read More

News Corp crisis hits shares

THE escalating phone-hacking crisis engulfing Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation slashed more than $2.2 billion from the company's market value yesterday as investors confronted the threat of action by British and US regulators.

Mr Murdoch flew into London on Sunday to take charge of efforts to contain damage from a scandal that has resulted in the closure of tabloid News of the World and derailed his takeover bid for broadcaster BSkyB.

Non-voting shares in News Corp fell 88¢, or 5.4 per cent, yesterday to close at $15.37 while the voting stock fell 85¢, or 5 per cent, to close at $15.92.

 

Read More

Twelve people are facing jail over the News of the World phone-hacking scandal including nine journalists and three police officers

Twelve people are facing jail over the News of the World phone-hacking scandal including nine journalists and three police officers, according to The Sunday Times.

A report in today’s paper, which is owned by NoW publishers News International, quoted a senior Scotland Yard officer claiming it was “very likely” that further arrests would be made soon.

The claims comes after a 63-year-old man was questioned by police yesterday over allegations of phone hacking and bribery.

According to the Times, police moved to secure computers and other evidence at the NoW newsroom in Wapping following the publication of its final edition last night.

The paper claimed that a “cabal” of six journalists acted as “gatekeepers” to Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective who was jailed for six months after being found guilty of phone hacking on behalf of the NoW in 2007.

Scotland Yard is also alleged to have turned on the newspaper and accused it of “orchestrating a five-year cover-up”.

Assistant commissioner John Yates is alleged to have told officers: “If the News of the World had co-operated properly in 2005-6, we would not be where we are now. It was their cover-up.”

The Times also claimed that an internal report was commissioned by News International executives in 2007 which “uncovered evidence indicating that hacking was more widespread than previously admitted and that money might have been paid by the paper’s journalists to police”.

A News International source told the paper that “we were sitting on a ticking timebomb”, but the company’s chairman James Murdoch was apparently not told about the report.

The inquiry was launched after former royal editor Clive Goodman, who was jailed for four months for phone hacking in 2007, appealed against his dismissal by the company and claimed his colleagues were “all aware of phone hacking”.

The Times claimed that the inquiry was overseen by NoW editor Colin Myler.

Today’s report said: “Myler and Tom Crone, head of legal affairs for the NoW, subsequently assured the culture, media and sport parliamentary select committee in 2009 that the investigation had not revealed any wrongdoing by other reporters.”

But it added: “News International is now facing painful and searching questions about what was actually uncovered in 2007.

“The Sunday Times was told last night that a detailed internal report was compiled at the time. One source who has seen the report alleged that it contained possible evidence of both phone hacking and payments to police.”

Read More

ONCE YOU LEAVE, YOUR OFFICE IS CRIME SCENE

NEWS of the World Editor Colin Myers and his staff emerged from their office for the last time at about 10pm last night.
He was carrying a proof of the paper’s last front page, which carried the headline, “Thank you and goodbye”, set against a backdrop collage of past editions. The wrap cover also carried a quote about the News of the World by George Orwell and a letter from longstanding reader Jeanne Hobson, from Leamington in Hampshire. Mr Myler’s voice faltered as he said: “It’s not a record any editor wants, to close a title – though, of course, I’m not closing it. “I want to pay tribute to this wonderful team of people here who, after a really difficult day, have produced a wonderful newspaper.

“As I said to the staff this morning, this is not where we wanted to be – it’s not where we deserved to be. But as a final tribute to the 7.5million, this is for you and the staff, thank you.” Staff must have woken up yesterday hoping it was all just a bad dream, but the nightmare was very real and as the paper went to press, they bade farewell to their jobs and saw their workplace in Wapping sealed off. They had been told that once they had finished they could not return to pick up any forgotten items because the office was part of a crime scene.

Following a pep talk from Mr Myler in the morning, every member of staff showed up to ensure the paper went “out with a bang”. Some said they were paying for the crimes of previous journalists and many felt they had been treated unfairly. Alan Edwards, chief sub-editor, said: “There are 280 journalists working on this newspaper. None of them have any links to anything that is meant to have gone on many, many years ago. “It’s a bunch of hard-working, talented, honest, decent journalists up there, who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.” Helen Moss, a sub-editor, said the day had been “extremely sad” but “we go out with heads held up high”.

Neil Ashton, the chief football correspondent, wrote on Twitter: “NotW employees devoted careers to history, tradition and commitment to campaigning journalism. Proud to have played a small part in it.” Showbiz editor Dan Wootton said: “Devastated to be spending the last day with my amazing colleagues at NotW, who took the rap for something that has nothing to do with us.” As some five million copies of the paper went to press, Mr Myler led his staff off to the local pub for “a drink or three”.




In an emotional email, he showed his appreciation for the “enormous sacrifices” his staff had made for the company. “I could not have been more proud or privileged to have you as my colleagues,” Mr Myler wrote. “Who could have imagined this time last week that we would be putting out the last edition of this great newspaper after 168 years? “But we are, and I know you will display the same consummate professionalism you have always done.”

Meanwhile News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch was due to fly in to take control of the crisis yesterday, but was nowhere to be seen. He was expected to land at a private airfield in Kent after flying in on his private jet from Washington, but he failed to show up at the Wapping HQ of News International. He was later photographed at the Allen & Co media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in the US. He made no comment on the situation, but is now expected to arrive in Britain today.

 

Read More

delaying the BSkyB deal is likely to be Miliband's "weapon of choice"

delaying the BSkyB deal is likely to be Miliband's "weapon of choice" — it seems, now, that he's priming it for detonation. But the question, really, is who will help him push the button, and bring on the fallout. Labour types are confident of Lib Dem support, and understandably so. The Observer article that I've linked to above features an assortment of prominent Libs speaking out against Murdoch's proposed takeover. Lord Ashdown (him again) says that, "The public will be outraged and bewildered and trust in our politics will take yet another knock if this takeover goes ahead after what has happened." Sir Menzies Campbell advises the government to Just Say No, "thereby putting the onus on Murdoch to go for a judicial review." Shirley Williams is, apparently, in "no doubt whatsoever that the bid should be put on the back-burner". And so on, and so on.

This is another burgeoning problem for Downing Street. The Lib Dem's distaste for the BSkyB deal — which appears to be shared by Nick Clegg — is up there with AV as their most significant, voluminous and unequivocal alliance with Miliband's Labour party since the birth of the coalition. It calls to mind the words of Vince Cable, in those secretly-taped conversations last year: "I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we’re going to win." In this one battle, at least, the odds seem to be shifting Vince's way.

UPDATE: Speaking on Sky's Murnaghan show, Simon Hughes has just backed Miliband's call for a vote — and suggested that he will encourage his "colleagues" to vote in its favour.

Read More

The Murdoch empire fractured, a Conservative prime minister attracting bets on his resignation, the Metropolitan Police on the edge of yet another existential crisis and the political establishment in disarray.

The Murdoch empire fractured, a Conservative prime minister attracting bets on his resignation, the Metropolitan Police on the edge of yet another existential crisis and the political establishment in disarray.

Read More

Downing Street appeared to signal the end of the Press Complaints Commission yesterday

Downing Street appeared to signal the end of the Press Complaints Commission yesterday when David Cameron described the organisation as "ineffective and lacking in rigour" and called for a new system of regulation to uphold the "proper, decent standards that we expect".

Having been shocked by news of the closure the day before of one of Britain's oldest national newspapers, the PCC chairman Baroness Buscombe was suddenly confronted by the prospect of the demise of her own comparatively fledgling institution

Read More

James Murdoch and News Corp could face corporate legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic that involve criminal charges, fines and forfeiture of assets

James Murdoch and News Corp could face corporate legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic that involve criminal charges, fines and forfeiture of assets as the escalating phone-hacking scandal risks damaging his chances of taking control of Rupert Murdoch's US-based media empire.

As deputy chief operating officer of News Corp – the US-listed company that is the ultimate owner of News International (NI), which in turn owns the News of the World, the Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun – the younger Murdoch has admitted he misled parliament over phone hacking, although he has stated he did not have the complete picture at the time. There have also been reports that employees routinely made payments to police officers, believed to total more than £100,000, in return for information.

The payments could leave News Corp – and possibly James Murdoch himself – facing the possibility of prosecution in the US under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) – legislation designed to stamp out bad corporate behaviour that carries severe penalties for anyone found guilty of breaching it – and in the UK under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 which outlaws the interception of communications.

Tony Woodcock, a partner at the City law firm Stephenson Harwood, said section 79 of the 2000 Act enabled criminal proceedings to be brought against not only a company, but also a director or similar officer where the offence was committed with their "consent or connivance" or was "attributable to any neglect on their part". Woodcock said: "This could embrace a wide number of people at the highest level within an organisation, such as a chief executive – not just the individual who 'pushed the button' allowing the intercept to take place or someone (perhaps less senior) who encouraged or was otherwise an accessory to the offence, such as an editor."

While the UK phone-hacking scandal has been met with outrage in the US, the hacking itself is unlikely to prompt Washington officials into action. But because NI is a subsidiary of the US company, any payments to UK police officers could trigger a justice department inquiry under the FCPA.

The 1977 Act generally prohibits American companies and citizens from corruptly paying – or offering to pay – foreign officials to obtain or retain business.

The Butler University law professor Mike Koehler, an FCPA expert, said: "I would be very surprised if the US authorities don't become involved in this [NI] conduct."

He said the scandal appeared to qualify as an FCPA case on two counts. First, News Corp is a US-listed company, giving the US authorities jurisdiction to investigate allegations. "Second, perhaps more importantly, the act requires that payments to government officials need to be in the furtherance of 'obtaining or retaining' business. If money is being paid to officials, in this case the police, in order to get information to write sensational stories to sell newspapers, that would qualify," he said.

Koehler said the US justice department was increasingly keen to bring cases against individuals as well as companies, because prosecuting people brought "maximum deterrence". He added: "Companies just pay out shareholders' money. There's not much deterrence there." Tom Fox, a Houston-based lawyer who specialises in FCPA cases and anti-corruption law, said most corporate cases were settled before going to court. But for individuals who are successfully prosecuted the penalties are severe.

In 2009 the former Hollywood movie producer Gerald Green and his wife, Patricia, were jailed for six months in the first criminal case under the FCPA. The Greens, whose credits included Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn, were convicted of paying $1.8m in bribes to a government official in Thailand in exchange for contracts to manage the Bangkok international film festival.

FCPA charges can carry up to five years in jail for each charge but the Greens' short prison sentence was not the harshest element of their sentencing. The "biggest hammer" prosecutors hold is forfeiture of assets, said Fox. "The Greens lost everything. Their house, savings, retirement plan. They are destitute now."

Bringing an FCPA case against the company would be far easier than bringing an action against James Murdoch. As yet there appears to be no evidence that he was directly linked to authorising the police payments. "If you don't know about it, that is a valid defence for an individual," said Koehler. In New York, media executives believe that with or without an FCPA case James Murdoch has already fatally damaged his chances of taking his father's crown.

One said: "There has been a sense of unravelling at News Corp for a while. The Daily, MySpace, Project Alesia – they look like News is chasing rainbows. [Rupert] Murdoch is looking old. It affects his ability to appoint an heir and I don't think James even has the backing of his family any more." Speculation is that Chase Carey, the chief operating officer, is most likely to take the top slot when and if the media mogul steps aside. "He is the ultimate Murdoch operative. He is not interested in the trappings of the media business. What would he do? Close the New York Post, sell the Times. Why not? It's a rational thing to do."

Read More