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| James Murdoch at the Leveson inquiry - Tuesday 24 April | James Murdoch at the Leveson inquiry - Tuesday 24 April |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 9.36am: Welcome to the Leveson inquiry live blog. James Murdoch will today testify on oath for almost six hours as the Leveson inquiry turns its attention to the relationship between proprietors and politicians. | |
| James Murdoch, the eldest son of Rupert, is expected to give his account of the circumstances of News Corporation's takeover attempt of BSkyB, which was dropped at the height of the phone-hacking scandal last year. James Murdoch stepped down as executive chairman of BSkyB this month, having left News International, the publisher of the Sun and now-defunct News of the World, earlier this year. | |
| Nick Davies, the Guardian journalist who exposed the scandal, has suggested a set of questions for the former Murdoch heir apparent to answer. | |
| The inquiry begins at 10am. | |
| Comments have been turned off for legal reasons. | |
| 9.43am: James Murdoch arrived at the high court just before 9am, a full hour before he is due to take the witness stand, according to the Financial Times correspondent Ben Fenton. | |
| James Murdoch has just arrived at the High Court. He was driven in through gates off the Strand. | |
| — Ben Fenton (@benfenton) April 24, 2012 | |
| Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian's head of media, is at the high court and likened the air of anticipation to the early days of the inquiry, when celebrities including Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller appeared to give evidence. | |
| The entrance to the high court is lined with broadcasting trucks and photographers, and a smattering of campaigners from the activists network Avaaz, Sabbagh said. | |
| Lisa O'Carroll, the Guardian's' media correspondent, has just tweeted: | |
| #leveson James Murdoch has arrived. Robert Jay in court 20m early. Air of anticipation | |
| — lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) April 24, 2012 | |
| 10.01am: James Murdoch is sworn in and has taken the witness stand. | |
| Robert Jay, the lead counsel to the inquiry is questioning the elder son of Rupert Murdoch. | |
| 10.06am: James Murdoch says he resigned as BSkyB chairman "for the simple reason that I wanted to avoid becoming a lightning rod" for the pay-TV operator during the phone-hacking scandal at News International. | |
| He adds that "some people were trying to conflate" the hacking scandal with his role at BSkyB, so he resigned from the post earlier this month. | |
| 10.10am: Jay asks Murdoch whether he felt in December 2007 that there was an open-management culture at News International. | |
| Murdoch replies that he felt the publisher was "different" to the management relations at BSkyB. | |
| Jay asks whether he felt that Colin Myler, then the editor of the News of the World was open with him in December 2007. | |
| "At the time I had no reason to believe otherwise," says Murdoch. | |
| 10.14am: Jay asks whether there were deficiencies in News International's system for identifying legal risks? | |
| Murdoch says: "With respect to newsgathering practices it's self evident in hindsight whatever controls were in place failed. However, there were senior legal managers working with the newsrooms ... at the time I didn't have the view whether they were insufficient or not." | |
| He adds: | |
| We had a management board where senior executives would meet regularly … and there was ample opportunity to be able to discuss these issues and surface them. I think I would have had a reasonable expectation that having a legal manager so close to the newsroom was a protection that it ultimately proved not to provide. | |
| Murdoch is asked about corporate reputation. He says that legal risk is an important part of corporate reputation. | |
| 10.16am: Murdoch is asked whether he read the News of the World on a weekly basis. | |
| He says he tried to "familiarise" himself with the Sun and read the News of the World but "not all of it". | |
| Murdoch says he recalls "receiving assurances" about ethics and journalistic practice at the News of the World "on a number of occasions". | |
| The ethical and legal risk was "very much in the hands of the editor", Murdoch says, adding that he did not decide what was published by the News of the World or the Sun. | |
| 10.22am: My colleague Lisa O'Carroll has written a profile of Robert Jay who is questioning James Murdoch. | |
| His strength is he is very good at getting on top of his brief, in terms of getting to the detail. Without any doubt, he will know his subject inside out. He gets to the office at 7.30am or 8am, he puts the hours in to get the detail. Judges love him | |
| 10.23am: Jay asks about the legal bill for the News of the World's Max Mosley sting. | |
| Murdoch says he cannot recall the exact legal bill faced by News International, then publisher of the News of the World, but describes the episode as "very disappointing" and "a matter of great regret and the story shouldn't have been run". | |
| He says does not recall concerns being raised about the "blackmail tactics", as described by Robert Jay, of the women involved in the Mosley expose. | |
| Lord Justice Leveson asks whether he went into any detail to read the judge's comments on the Mosley episode. | |
| Murdoch says it was made clear to Colin Myler, editor of the News of the World at the time, that it was an unfortunate story and there was a "strong indication that it shouldn't happen again". | |
| "Getting it wrong spectacularly as that was, was made clear to Mr Myler with a strong indication it shouldn't happen again." | |
| 10.24am: Murdoch is asked why he believes the News of the World was profitable. Murdoch says the now-closed title was "reasonably" profitable, adding: | |
| The way we do business is part of the connection we have with our customers. In the end the profitability of the News of the World did not save it. | |
| Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian's head of media at the high court, has just tweeted: | |
| "The profitability of the NoW did not save it," says JRM - an oblique reference to his "only guarantee of independence is profit" speech. | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | |
| 10.26am: Jay asks about the appointment of Dominic Mohan as editor of the Sun. | |
| Murdoch says he supported the appointment, which was the recommendation of his predecessor, Rebekah Brooks, and was approved by his father, Rupert Murdoch. | |
| Jay asks whether he knew Mohan's political views? Murdoch says he does not. | |
| 10.31am: Murdoch is asked about phone hacking, which Jay describes as "well-trodden ground". | |
| Jay raises the "For Neville" email and Murdoch's 10 June 2008 meeting with Tom Crone, the News International lawyer, and former news editor of the News of the World Colin Myler. | |
| Murdoch reasserts his position that he was not shown the email in that meeting. Crone and Myler have both put forward a different version of events. | |
| He adds that he was given assurances by Daniel Cloke, the News International HR director, and Myler in December 2007 that phone hacking was all in the past. | |
| 10.34am: Here's a tweet from former News of the World journalist Tom Latchem: | |
| Didn't read his papers, didn't choose editors, didn't read emails... What exactly DID he do for his multi-million pound salary? #Leveson | |
| — Tom Latchem (@theboylatch) April 24, 2012 | |
| 10.35am: Lord Justice Leveson asks whether James Murdoch "probed the adequacy of the internal governance" at News International when he took over following the jailing of the News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire over phone hacking. | |
It adds: | |
they treated us was so stark," said the source. | |
"Jeremy Hunt should have been standing up for the interests of the British people. In fact, it now turns out he was standing up for the interests of the Murdochs. He should resign. | |
| Murdoch says: | Murdoch says: |
| In the newsroom it had not been tight enough and that's why a new editor was brought in who I thought had no skin in the game in the past … but the newsroom governance again was really an issue for the editor and the legal manager to be responsible for. They were clear they had strengthened governance to catch this sort of thing in the future. | |
| 10.36am: Leveson says that it's not what you put in place for the future but how it happened in the past. | |
| "That was before I was there," says Murdoch. | |
| "I appreciate that," says Leveson. "But you didn't pick up what went wrong in our systems earlier?" | |
| "It was the absence of those things being done effectively," replies Murdoch. | |
| 10.38am: In reference to Dan Sabbagh's tweet (see 10:24am post). Here's Murdoch's 2009 MacTaggart lecture (pdf) which makes interesting reading after his comment about profitability and the demise of the News of the World. | |
| 10.40am: Jay is turning to the detail of email correspondence between James Murdoch, the News International solicitor Julian Pike, of Farrers, internal lawyers and the former news editor at NoW, Colin Myler. | |
| Murdoch says if a "snatched" meeting between him and Myler on 27 May 2008 had gone into what was discussed in the correspondence he would have remembered it. | |
| Murdoch says he was not aware of unfair dismissal claim by Clive Goodman, the jailed former News of the World reporter, or that he alleged that others at News International were involved in phone hacking. | |
| 10.44am: Dan Sabbagh, head of media at the Guardian, has just tweeted: | |
| NewsInt executives seem to work hard to keep Goodman case, Goodman claim etc away from JRM on his account. | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | |
| Murdoch says assurances made by News International executives to him were "consistent" in there was no evidence of widespread phone hacking. | |
| Jay points out that Colin Myler told the Leveson inquiry previously he felt there were "bombs underneath the newsroom floor" when it came to phone hacking. Myler was appointed as editor of the News of the World following the resignation of Andy Coulson, who stepped down because the royal reporter Clive Goodman was found to have engaged in phone hacking on his watch. | |
| Murdoch adds: | |
| Their assurances to me were consistent as I said, the newspaper had been investigated thoroughly that no evidence had been found. That was entirely consistent from Mr Crone and Mr Myler all the way through. | |
| He says he would have said "cut out the cancer" and believes "there was some desire not to do that". | |
| That is my understanding that is something I have struggled with as well. Why wouldn't they tell me? They didn't. I don't want to conjecture but I think that must be it, that I would say 'cut out the cancer' and there was some desire not to do that. | |
| 10.55am: Murdoch believes there was not a "proactive desire" to bring him up to speed on the phone-hacking settlement with Gordon Taylor. | |
| Jay asks whether there was an agenda for the 10 June 2008 meeting with Myler and Crone. Murdoch says there was not, adding that it was a "brief conversation that I've described at length". | |
| Did Myler or Crone refer to the reputational damage of the company, Jay asks. | |
| Murdoch says the message from Myler and Crone was "we don't want to have to go through that again," referring to the jailing of Clive Goodman. | |
| He says: | |
| It was referred to it was in the best interests of the business not to have this matter [from 2006] dug up again and dragged through the court ... we don't want to have to go through that again. | |
| Murdoch says he was told that the Taylor phone-hacking claim should be settled, partly "not to drag up" events of the past. He adds that both News International and Taylor sought confidentiality with the settlement. | |
| Murdoch says he now accepts that the "For Neville" email is "a thread" that raised the suspicion of wider phone hacking at the News of the World. | |
| He adds: | |
| The fact it suggested other people might have been involved in phone hacking – that part of its importance was not imparted to me that day. | |
| 10.57am: Murdoch says Myler and Crone were "more on the anxious side" at this meeting and keen to leave the room with the knowledge that they could settle the Gordon Taylor phone-hacking claim "at a higher number". | |
| Jay suggests the reputational damage to the company was inextricably linked not because it was an old case but because it was something new. Murdoch says he was not told that. | |
| Jay asks whether he believed that £350,000 was a generous figure to settle Taylor's claim. Murdoch says that he is not a lawyer so had no relevant experience. | |
| 11.02am: Murdoch says he left the Gordon Taylor settlement negotiation to Crone and Myler. | |
| He adds that there was a "budget of a million and change for legal settlements at the News of the World". He says it was "reasonable" to leave the issue to senior management. | |
| Did anyone suggest to you that Taylor was trying to "blackmail" News International, asks Jay, because of the potential reputational harm to the company? | |
| "I don't remember words like that, it was a short meeting," says Murdoch. | |
| 11.04am: Here's a tweet from FT media editor Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson. | |
| Jay sounding incredulous that James left underlings to offer £350,000 Gordon Taylor settlement without his authority #leveson | |
| — A Edgecliffe-Johnson (@Edgecliffe) April 24, 2012 | |
| 11.07am: Keir Simmons, the UK editor for ITV News, has just tweeted: | |
| Lachlan Murdoch still smiling as he watches his brother James put under pressure at #Leveson | |
| — Keir Simmons (@KeirSimmonsITV) April 24, 2012 | |
| Murdoch is defiant when asked whether he knew that Colin Myler believed that Gordon Taylor was attempted to "blackmail" News International. | |
| He says: "If the purpose of that meeting was to bring me up to speed on the whole story, from 2006 … then a) it would have been a much longer meeting and b) it would have had a different outcome" | |
| 11.11am: The FT's Ben Fenton reckons that was a key exhange. | |
| [That was key exchange so far - you were dishonest or incompetent? No, I was kept in the dark.] #leveson #murdoch | |
| — Ben Fenton (@benfenton) April 24, 2012 | — Ben Fenton (@benfenton) April 24, 2012 |
| 11.12am: In a key exchange, Jay puts to Murdoch that there was either a cover up or a failure of governance. | |
| Jay says: | |
| There are two possibilities here. Either you were told of the evidence that linked others at the News of the World to Mulcaire and this was in effect a cover up, or you weren't told and you didn't read the emails properly and there was failure of governance at the company do you accept that? | |
| Murdoch maintains that Myler and Crone gave him "sufficient information" to settle the Gordon Taylor case at a higher figure, but not sufficient information "to go and turn over a whole lot of stones". | |
| He adds: "I was given repeated assurances newsroom had been investigated, that there was no evidence. I've been very consistent about it." | |
| 11.14am: The Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll has tweeted: /> | |
| Murdoch pursuing lose lose strategy. Why not just say yes there was a lack of governance when Jay asks if it was a cover up or a screw up? | |
| — lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) April 24, 2012 | |
| 11.15am: Phone hacking had been "packed away" by the time Murdoch arrived at News International, he says. | |
| Jay asks about the Guardian story in 2009 that gave the first evidence of wider phone hacking at the News of the World. | |
| Murdoch was in New York at the time but received a phone call. He says he was told: "that it wasn't true; that there was no other evidence; that it had been investigated to death and that it was a smear". | |
| Murdoch repeats his regret that he should have taken the follow-up select committee report "more seriously". | |
| 11.17am: Murdoch is asked whether he knew about the Max Clifford phone-hacking settlement. | |
| He says that he knew there was an existing relationship between Clifford and Rebekah Brooks, then the chief executive of News International, and they wanted to settle it at that. | |
| 11.19am: Murdoch says that evidence exposed during the Sienna Miller litigation was a "great concern", which is why the employees concerned were suspended and new counsel were brought in. | |
| He is asked about the culture of the News of the World, in reference to its aggressive response to the Guardian and select committee reports on phone hacking. | |
| He says: "The culture between these papers is very tribal and the competition between them is a zero-sum game". | |
| Murdoch appears to express regret that he didn't take the Guardian allegations more seriously, although he doesn't mention Guardian by name. | |
| "The culture between these papers is very tribal ... that might lead to a culture of knocking back allegations and not being as thoughtful and forensic about allegations," he says. | |
| "One of the big lessons learned here, no matter where something comes from, even if it's a commercial rival or someone who has a political gripe, that being more dispassionate, forensic, understanding ... those circumstances don't make an allegation untrue." | |
| 11.20am: The inquiry is taking a 10-minute break. | |
| 11.28am: Tom Watson, the Labour MP and prominent critic of News International, has said that the culture, media and sport select committee report on phone hacking could be published as early as next Tuesday. | |
| He has just tweeted: | |
| DCMS Select Committee will formally consider its report in Monday with a view to publication on Tuesday. | |
| — tom_watson (@tom_watson) April 24, 2012 | |
| 11.32am: Here's a tweet from the Guardian's Esther Addley who is at the Leveson inquiry: | |
| Murdoch denying either cover up or failure of governance. Third option, I wasn't told, dumps blame on NoW editor Myler & legal mgr Crone | |
| — esther addley (@estheraddley) April 24, 2012 | — esther addley (@estheraddley) April 24, 2012 |
| 11.35am: The inquiry has resumed. We are talking sports rights and the possibility that the Premier League live TV rights would be split by the EC, in particular James Murdoch's conference call to Tony Blair on 7 October 2005. | |
| Jay asks whether the purpose of the call was to bring Blair onside? | |
| Murdoch says it was "just to make the PM aware of these issues. It's a major British franchise". | |
| Did it involve a "direct request" to the PM asks Jay? "You are subtly communicating your concerns on behalf of BSkyB?" | |
| "The purpose would be for senior policy makers to understand that some of these policies might have adverse consequences for English football." | |
| 11.38am: Jay asks when News Corp hatched plans to buy rest of BSkyB it did not already own. Murdoch says late 2009, "August". | |
| 11.38am: James Murdoch's witness statement can be read in full here (pdf). | |
| 11.40am: Jay asks about the purposes of his meetings with Cameron. | |
| Here's a tweet fromthe Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll: | |
| Murdoch had 10 meetings with Cameron according to new table being shown going back to 10 sept 2009 | |
| — lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) April 24, 2012 | |
| 11.41am: But you would have been keen to know where Cameron stood in relation to issues that affect your company? "Not really," says Murdoch. | |
| Not even regulation - TV, Ofcom, the press, competition? | |
| I think more generally an approach to enterprise, not so much macroeconomic but to business, how they work. | |
| 11.42am: But wouldn't you wish to find out privately what he might say, asks Jay. "That's not the way I do business, I would have been interested and flattered." | |
| Jay returns to issues of regulation. "Not really, we did an assessment of the regulatory risk. It was not a narrow political calculation around that." | |
| Jay continues on this theme, didn't you do two calculations, one on basis of Labour and Tory government re the News Corp takeover of the rest of BSkyB? | |
| Murdoch says he would look at the "general political direction" of the country. "Is this a place where our business can be pursued?" | |
| But there was an election coming up, says Jay. Surely that calculation would have been carried out? | |
| That wasn't part of it. There was a view later on when it was thought likely we would attempt to do this to try to avoid becoming a political issue in the middle of an election, not the possible outcomes of the election. | |
| 11.44am: The Guardian's Dan Sabbagh has sent these tweets on the relationship between James Murdoch and the PM: | |
| So Cameron/Murdoch meeting on "sun endorsement" happened about three weeks before Sun's "Labour's lost it" front page | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 |
| Critical - Sep 10 2009 murdoch met Cameron at "the george" to discuss "the sun"s proposed endorsement" - presumably of tories. | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 |
| 11.46am: Murdoch says which government was in power at the time of the BSkyB bid "was not necessarily high in our mind". | |
| "There was a question how long it might take, would it go to the Competition Commission or not. It was more duration not likelihood of completion we were concerned about." | |
| 11.47am: Moving on to Sun's endorsement of Tory party and meeting with David Cameron in December 2009. | |
| "It was made clear to me the Sun would be endorsing the Conservative party or moving away from support of Labour," says Murdoch. | |
| Welcome news to Cameron? "It seemed that way." | |
| Did Murdoch discuss the timing of the endorsement? He says the editors said it would be at the end of the conference season. | |
| Jay says, wasn't there a discussion they would endorse Cameron on very day of Gordon Brown's speech to conference? | |
| "I don't remember the specifity of that. I think it was the day after, the article. It was focussed more on Labour's record than endorsement of Conservatives." | |
| 11.48am: Did he discuss regulatory issues with Cameron at that meeting? "No." At earlier meetings? "I don't believe so." | |
| 11.49am: What about other meetings with Cameron, in run-up to election. Regulatory issues on agenda? | |
| "I think actually more politics, leading up to election," says Murdoch. "I don't believe we discussed any specific regulation." | |
| 11.55am: Jay moves on to the meeting between Cameron and James Murdoch on 23 December 2010 at home of Rebekah and Charlie Brooks. | |
| How many people were there? "In the teens, maybe 15 people." | |
| The meeting was two days after Vince Cable was absolved of his responsibility of the News Corp/BSkyB merger after, in Murdoch's words, he showed "acute bias". | |
| "There was no discussion with Mr Cameron other than he reiterated what he said publicly, that the behaviour had been unacceptable," says Murdoch. | |
| I imagine I expressed the hope that things would be dealt with in way that was appropriate and judicial. It was a tiny side conversation, it was not a discussion. | |
| 11.57am: James Murdoch's witness statement has been published on the Leveson inquiry website. | |
| The witness statement lists a number of meetings between Murdoch and David Cameron, the chancellor George Osborne, and the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt about News Corp's then-proposed takeover of BSkyB. | |
| James Murdoch met David Cameron on 23 December 2010 at a dinner hosted by Rebekah and Charile Brooks two days after Jeremy Hunt was given responsibility for the regulatory approval of the takeover, following Vince Cable's "war on Murdoch" comments secretly recorded by the Daily Telegraph. | |
| Murdoch met George Osborne on 29 November. His witness statement records: | |
| I recall one conversation with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, about the bid. My diary records an appointment with Mr Osborne on 29 November 2010, but I cannot recall whether that was the date on which I had the discussion with him. I believe we discussed a number of matters, and that I expressed my concern at the slow progress with the regulatory process, my view that the investment would be good for Britain and also my view that there were no plurality issues raised by our proposal. | |
| Murdoch has recorded meetings with Jeremy Hunt on four separate occasions between 10 November 2010 and 20 January 2011 about the takeover bid. The former BSkyB chairman telephoned Hunt on 21 December, after Hunt had been given oversight of the takeover, and said: "I believe I probably raised my concern with respect to Mr Cable's public statements, the pace of the regulatory review and my concerns about the process so far, and sought assurances that no such bias would continue in the process. I also offered to meet to explain the company's position on the plurality test." | |
| 11.58am: The key strategy was to avoid the News Corp/BSkyB takeover not becoming a "political football" during the general election, says Murdoch. | |
| 11.59am: Jay asks Murdoch if he had a "preference for a Conservative victory"? | |
| "With respect to enterprise and free market the Conservatives tried to make a case they were the better option for that," replies Murdoch. | |
| A Labour victory wouldn't have been desirable with respect to the BSkyB bid? "We never made a crass calculation about what the newspapers did, it wouldn't occur to me." | |
| 12.01pm: Jay turns to Murdoch's conversations with Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, about News Corp's takeover bid of BSkyB. | |
| Jay asks if Hunt was a "huge ally" of News International. Murdoch says "I wouldn't think so", and laughs when comments on Hunt's personal website are raised that describe the secretary of state as a "cheerleader" for the Murdochs. | |
| Murdoch rejects the suggestion that he called Hunt to "oil the wheels" of the takeover. | |
| 12.04pm: Murdoch says he has never felt that "top slicing" the BBC's funding was a good idea and so never communicated that to the culture secretary. | |
| Jay asks whether Murdoch had discussions with senior politicians about the announcement in October 2010 that Ofcom's role and budget would be reduced by 28%. | |
| Murdoch says he does not believe so. | |
| 12.08pm: Jay asks whether Murdoch is friendly with the chancellor George Osborne. | |
| "We have been friendly. I wouldn't say I was a close friend," Murdoch says, and confirms he has visited Dorneywood, Osborne's grace-and-favour home, once with his family. | |
| Did Murdoch discuss the BSkyB takeover bid at this Dorneywood meeting with Osborne, asks Jay? | |
| Murdoch says: | |
| "I had one discussion where it might have come up, which was during the process which to be grumpy about was taking a long time. Nothing I said to Mr Osborne would have been inconsistent with our public advocacy on the subject." | |
| 12.09pm: Murdoch is asked whether he attempted to achieve an unfair advantage over rivals because of his relations with politicians. | |
| "That would not be the way that I would do it," he says, describing his method as "legitimate advocacy". | |
| Leveson asks: did you obtain greater access because of the weight of press interests? | |
| "I don't know what all of the other meetings that the PM and these people take in general," says Murdoch. "It's true to say politicians and people around the political class are very eager to get their point across, they do talk to the press. | |
| "As a business person I don't think I've personally experienced that, I haven't actually spent that much time with politicians personally." | |
| 12.11pm: Ian Katz, the Guardian's deputy editor and head of news, has tweeted on the issue of Cameron's meeting with News International execs: | |
| Here's a reminder of how No 10 squirmed when we first asked about that Brooks Xmas dinner with Cameron bit.ly/dH1XNq #leveson | |
| — ian katz (@iankatz1000) April 24, 2012 | |
| 12.14pm: Jay says there is an "ever changing balance of power" that is more advantageous to the Murdoch media over politicians. | |
| "I just don't think there's the very old-fashioned view of big media proprietors being able to dominate the landscape, I just think that's not the case anymore," Murdoch says. | |
| Jay says he's "not interested in the reality", prompting much laughter. Leveson suggests he might not quite mean that. Jay means he's interested in politicians' perception of the power of the media, not necessarily how much power it actually has. | |
| 12.17pm: Murdoch agrees with Jay that there has always been a political debate about the regulatory environment around the media in the UK. | |
| He says this is unfortunate and would prefer to keep this debate focused on the legal environment. | |
| 12.19pm: Murdoch says he tries to keep politics out of business, and uses Sky's purchase of live England domestic cricket rights, previously broadcast free to air, as an example. | |
| "There was a political angle, I felt my job was to say 'No, from a legal perspective it's entirely appropriate for English cricket to be broadcast on Sky. I always try to bring it back to what is legally sound, to make the political debate less relevant." | |
| 12.22pm: Jay asks about James Murdoch's personal visit to the Independent newsroom in 2010 after the newspaper launched a billboard campaign, headed "Rupert Murdoch won't decide this election". | |
| Murdoch says he had a meeting in the same building as the Independent and wanted to raise this as an issue with Simon Kelner, then editor of the Independent, because he was "upset and concerned" at the campaign. | |
| "I knew Mr Kelner [Simon Kelner, then Independent editor] and was concerned about it. I went into the front door of the Independent, they didn't really have a desk or reception or a lock frankly, you are immediately in the middle of the newsroom. | |
| "I didn't storm in anywhere. I found Mr Kelner's desk and said could I speak to you for a minute. I told him of my concerns - whether or not I used colourful language I wouldn't dispute - there was no storming in, it didn't happen out in the open. | |
| "Mr Kelner had been availing himself of the hospitality of my family for a number of years. I thought this was beyond the pale and not a decent way to go about his business." | |
| 12.26pm: The Guardian's Ian Katz wrote about David Cameron's dinner with Rebekah Brooks and James Murdoch in February 2011 which at the time Downing Street refused to disclose any details of. | |
| For more than two weeks the Guardian has been trying to establish a few details about an evening Cameron spent at the Oxfordshire home of Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, during the Christmas holidays. Here's what the most open government in the world told us: first, No 10 categorically denied the PM had visited Brooks on Christmas day itself; then, when we asked instead if the PM had been entertained chez Brooks over the Christmas period it declined to confirm or deny. | |
| Later Downing Street elaborated on its position, pointing out that Brooks was a constituent of Cameron's and, in any case, "the prime minister regularly meets newspaper executives from lots of different companies". But still No 10 refused to provide a date, or even confirm whether the dinner took place. | |
| When it emerged that James Murdoch was at the dinner too, Downing Street became fractionally more transparent: an unattributable source reassured lobby reporters that neither Rupert Murdoch's controversial takeover bid for Sky nor the phone-hacking scandal had been discussed. So that's all right then. | |
| 12.28pm: Here's how Steve Busfield covered the "meeting" between James Murdoch and the Indy's Simon Kelner in April 2010. | |
| 12.29pm: Jay asks whether it is true that Rebekah Brooks "bore the brunt" of the majority of meetings with politicians in the run up to the 2010 election. Murdoch says that Brooks had more meetings with politicians than him. | |
| He adds that there were discussions in 2009 about which party the Sun would back at the next election. He admits that one factor in deciding who Sun should back in an election is who is likely to win. | |
| 12.35pm: In July 2011, Cameron refused to deny discussing the Sky bid at the Brooks dinner, saying he never had an "inappropriate conversation" about the deal. Here's the Telegraph story from the time. | |
| 12.36pm: Opponents of News Corp's failed takeover of BSkyB raised plurality issues that were about the future competitiveness of their businesses and "nothing to do with the relevant legal test", says Murdoch. | |
| Nicholas Watt, the Guardian's chief political correspondent, has just tweeted: | |
| No 10: 'no' when asked if PM aware of inappropriate conversations between Jeremy Hunt and News Corp | |
| — Nicholas Watt (@nicholaswatt) April 24, 2012 | |
| and: | |
| No 10: no response to James Murdoch claim he discussed BSkyB bid with PM - public enquiry should take its course | |
| — Nicholas Watt (@nicholaswatt) April 24, 2012 | |
| and: | |
| No 10: no response to James Murdoch claim he discussed BSkyB bid with PM - public enquiry should take its course | |
| — Nicholas Watt (@nicholaswatt) April 24, 2012 | |
| 12.37pm: Murdoch says other press owners had a "very distinct commercial fear" around News Corp-BSkyB tieup, including bundling and cross promotion and size and scale of News Corp's interests in UK. | |
| He describes it as a competition argument which they turned "very effectively" into one which suggested the plurality of the media in the UK might be at risk at some point in the future. | |
| "It's commercial, not simply political, in fact primarily commercial," says Murdoch. | |
| 12.39pm: Dan Sabbagh, head of media and technology, who is at the Leveson inquiry has tweeted about the Sun's decision to back the Tories before the election: | |
| Tory support decision in Sept 09 was made by JRM, Brooks, Mohan + political editor. (Who edits the Sun?) | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 |
| 12.41pm: Jay turns back to Murdoch's conversations with Jeremy Hunt about News Corp's BSkyB bid. | |
| He highlights two other players in the negotiations: Adam Smith, the special adviser to Jeremy Hunt, and Frédéric Michel, the News Corp head of public affairs. | |
| Murdoch says Michel was "liaison with policy makers on various issues". Was he hired in May 2009? "Can't remember precisely," says Murdoch. | |
| Hunt says he was minded to refer to Competition Commission. Was then consideration given to News Corp undertakings in January 2011 in order to remove or mitigate plurality concerns? | |
| "Essentially the secretary of state said he had received the advice from Ofcom, it's within his remit to take that and way it up with any other undertakings. | |
| "Given the length of time the Competition Commission review would take, rather ... we would offer substantial structural undertaking [separating Sky News from the deal]. It was a major concession that the secretary of state had extracted from the processed." | |
| 12.45pm: Jay turns to evidence submitted by Rupert Murdoch under a statutory notice. | |
| In a witness statement, Fréd Michel says between December 2010 and July 2011 conversations that "appear to have taken place with the secretary of state in fact took place with the special adviser, Adam Smith", according to Jay. | |
| Jay raises a conference call between James Murdoch, Michel and Vince Cable on 15 June 2010. Michel says in one email that the call went well and "we should have recorded him". | |
| Michel says in another email that he had a note from Hunt's advisor, Adam Smith, that "the UK government would be supportive throughout the process (despite what the Standard is reporting this evening)". | |
| This email was sent on 15 June 2011. | |
| 12.46pm: Jay says: "It's pretty clear you were receiving information on the lines the UK government on the whole would be supportive of News Corp." | |
| Murdoch: "I think Mr Hunt had said personally he didn't see any issues ... there's no special information in there." | |
| 12.50pm: James Murdoch's email replies to Fréd Michel will be published online later today, Jay says. | |
| Michel was called by Jeremy Hunt after the culture secretary did an interview with the Financial Times on 15 July 2011. Hunt's interview had not been published at that point. | |
| "Looks as if you had a chat to Mr Hunt on 15 June 2010 ... was the BSkyB bid discussed during that chat?" asks Jay. | |
| Murdoch replies: | |
| I don't remember ... I would be surprised if it weren't. It would have been the same position I took publicly and with anyone who would listen. | |
| 12.53pm: Fréd Michel sends another email to Murdoch's adviser on 15 September 2010 about a blogpost by the BBC's Robert Peston. | |
| In the email, Michel said: "Jeremy Hunt is not aware and thinks it's not credible at all. He is checking now." | |
| Murdoch says: "At this time I was repeatedly seeking official meeting with Mr Cable and we were not able to have this meeting." | |
| Jay: "So the way you did communicate was through your cheerleader Mr Hunt?" | |
| "I think that's unfair," says Murdoch. | |
| Jay says that, through Michel, News Corp and BSkyB was trying to get the inside track on the government's position on the takeover through Hunt's special adviser. | |
| Jay suggests Murdoch "wasn't getting anywhere with Mr Cable" so went to other secretaries of state who might offer assistance. Not fair, says Murdoch, "we were just trying to find out if it was true". | |
| 12.54pm: Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian's head of media, has just tweeted: | |
| So was Hunt running a back channel for News Corp while Cable was deciding on Sky bid. What will @Jeremy_Hunt say today? | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | |
| 12.59pm: Jay suggests that Murdoch "wasn't getting anywhere with Mr Cable" so went to other secretaries of state who might offer assistance. Not fair, says Murdoch, "we were just trying to find out if it was true". | |
| Murdoch says it was "perfectly reasonable" for him to believe that a secretary of state would take into account all legal evidence about the takeover. | |
| Murdoch denies the suggestion that the BSkyB deal was linked to the Sun's backing of the Tory party. | |
| I'm sorry, Mr Jay, that is absolutely not the case. The question of support for one politician or another is not something I would link to an issue like this … I simply wouldn't do business that way. | |
| Keir Simmons, UK editor of ITV News, has just tweeted: | |
| The Murdoch view reflected by James wife in public gallery - as James is asked about expecting favours from Tories she says 'outrageous'. | |
| — Keir Simmons (@KeirSimmonsITV) April 24, 2012 | |
| 1.06pm: Dan Sabbagh, Guardian's head of media, has tweeted: | |
| Labour insiders arguing that Cameron breached the ministerial code as regards his convo with JRM on Sky bid. | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | |
| 1.10pm: An email sent on 27 September 2010, after Michel spoke to Cable's junior minister, Lord Oakeshott, says Cable was feeling "very strong political pressure" over the way News International had treated the Lib Dems and Labour over the previous 12 months. | |
| Jay says it "looks as if a strong political flavour" was entering the debate. | |
| Murdoch says it was "very alarming" and had "nothing to do with the proper legal test" over whether News Corp should be allowed to take over the whole of BSkyB. | |
| "Call me naive I thought senior ministers were serious people who try to do their jobs," says Murdoch. | |
| Jay says this is "absolutely key". | |
| "You have one government minister saying I don't like the Murdoch press [Cable] and another government minister [Hunt] who is treated in a rather different way by the Murdoch press, his thinking is going to be converse to Mr Cable's". | |
| Murdoch says Hunt "at every turn took the advice of independent regulators Ofcom and the OFT in particular at every single decision point". | |
| 1.16pm: Here is a short lunchtime summary of James Murdoch's evidence so far. Coverage will resume at 2pm: | |
| • James Murdoch denies culture secretary Jeremy Hunt was a "cheerleader" for News Corporation | |
| • News Corp lobbyist, Fréd Michel, sought an inside track on government position on BSkyB takeover through special adviser to Hunt | |
| • Murdoch discussed BSkyB bid at Christmas dinner with David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks | |
| • Murdoch claims he had a "tiny conversation" with the prime minister over the Sky takeover at Charlie and Rebekah Brooks' house | |
| • Murdoch met Cameron in September 2009 to announce that the Sun would be backing the Tories in the next general election | |
| • He was told that the Guardian's 2009 revelations were a "smear" by News International executives | |
| • The profitability of the News of the World was not enough to save it said Murdoch | |
| • Mosley story "should not have been run" and he regretted it being printed but didn't know the legal costs involved in the case | |
| 1.25pm: James Murdoch will no doubt welcome the lunchtime break after three hours of close questioning. But Robert Jay, the man leading the inquisition, may be less pleased. | |
| Keir Simmons, UK editor of ITV News, has just tweeted: | |
| Leveson rises, James Murdoch's questioner Robert Jay QC walks away and mouths to colleague 'this is such fun' | |
| — Keir Simmons (@KeirSimmonsITV) April 24, 2012 | |
| 1.50pm: James Murdoch's diary of meetings with David Cameron, shown to the Leveson inquiry earlier today. | 1.50pm: James Murdoch's diary of meetings with David Cameron, shown to the Leveson inquiry earlier today. |
| 26 June 2006: Brooks Club arranged by Charles Adlington. Discussion: David Cameron spoke about his vision for the country to a group. | 26 June 2006: Brooks Club arranged by Charles Adlington. Discussion: David Cameron spoke about his vision for the country to a group. |
| 4 July 2006: Dinner. Also there George Osborne and wife and other guests. Arranged by Osborne. Discussion: General social | 4 July 2006: Dinner. Also there George Osborne and wife and other guests. Arranged by Osborne. Discussion: General social |
| 4 April 2007: Dinner with my wife Katheryn, Cameron and wife Samantha. Arranged by: Don't recall. Discussion: General social | 4 April 2007: Dinner with my wife Katheryn, Cameron and wife Samantha. Arranged by: Don't recall. Discussion: General social |
| 22 January 2008: Breakfast at Stafford Hotel. Arranged by: Rupert Murdoch. Discussion: David Cameron's political views. | 22 January 2008: Breakfast at Stafford Hotel. Arranged by: Rupert Murdoch. Discussion: David Cameron's political views. |
| 15 July 2008: Dinner with my wife and DC and wife. Arranged by: Martin Ivens. Discussion: General topics. | 15 July 2008: Dinner with my wife and DC and wife. Arranged by: Martin Ivens. Discussion: General topics. |
| 29 October 2008: Dinner with my wife and DC and wife and Will and Ffion Hague and possibly others. Arranged by:; David Cameron. Discussion: General topics, politics. | 29 October 2008: Dinner with my wife and DC and wife and Will and Ffion Hague and possibly others. Arranged by:; David Cameron. Discussion: General topics, politics. |
| 3 May 2009: Lunch with Cameron family and Rebekah Brooks. Arranged by: James Murdoch. Discussion: General social. | 3 May 2009: Lunch with Cameron family and Rebekah Brooks. Arranged by: James Murdoch. Discussion: General social. |
| 10 September 2009: Drinks at the George. Arranged by: James Murdoch. Discussion: Sun's proposed endorsement of the Conservative party | 10 September 2009: Drinks at the George. Arranged by: James Murdoch. Discussion: Sun's proposed endorsement of the Conservative party |
| 21 September 2009: Dinner with wife and other couples. Arranged by: James Murdoch. Discussion: General social. | 21 September 2009: Dinner with wife and other couples. Arranged by: James Murdoch. Discussion: General social. |
| 2 November 2009: Breakfast with Rebekah Brooks. Arranged by: Rebekah Brooks. Discussion: Topical subjects, politics | 2 November 2009: Breakfast with Rebekah Brooks. Arranged by: Rebekah Brooks. Discussion: Topical subjects, politics |
| 19 December 2009: Dinner with Rebekah Brooks and others. Arranged by: Rebekah Brooks. Discussion: General social. | 19 December 2009: Dinner with Rebekah Brooks and others. Arranged by: Rebekah Brooks. Discussion: General social. |
| 21 January 2010: Dinner with Rebekah Brooks and George Osborne at my house. Arranged by: James Murdoch. Discussion: Politics | 21 January 2010: Dinner with Rebekah Brooks and George Osborne at my house. Arranged by: James Murdoch. Discussion: Politics |
| 7 November 2010: Lunch at Chequers with family and guests. Arranged by David Cameron. Discussion: General social. | 7 November 2010: Lunch at Chequers with family and guests. Arranged by David Cameron. Discussion: General social. |
| 23 December 2010: Dinners attended by PM and his wife and several other couples. Arranged by Rebekah Brooks. Discussion. Mostly social. | 23 December 2010: Dinners attended by PM and his wife and several other couples. Arranged by Rebekah Brooks. Discussion. Mostly social. |
| 1.58pm: Dan Sabbagh, head of media at the Guardian, has just tweeted: | |
| Hearing from @Jeremy_Hunt's team. Saying that NC contact was appropriate lobbying; that Hunt was not a cheerleader for News as JRM said. | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 |
| And: | |
| Gather that @Jeremy_Hunt people are closely watching evidence. They don't know what is the rest of the Michel emails. | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 |
| 2.02pm: The Leveson inquiry has resumed and James Murdoch continues his evidence. | |
| 2.07pm: Jay returns to the correspondence between Fréd Michel, the News Corp head of public affairs, and Murdoch in which Michel said "mission accomplished". | |
| Michel then said "a Lib Dem MP and former Sky employee" would contact Vince Cable and stress the economic arguments in favour of allowing News Corp's takeover of BSkyB. | |
| Murdoch says it is "entirely straightforward and normal" for a business to wish to promote its views, describing it again as "legitimate advocacy". | |
| Murdoch confirms he had a meeting with the first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, shortly after that email was sent. It is not known whether the email exchange and the meeting are linked. | |
| 2.08pm: Chris Bryant, the Labour MP, has just tweeted: | |
| I suspect Mr Jeremy Hunt is not long for this world politically, but it's going to get worse for Cameron. | |
| — Chris Bryant (@ChrisBryantMP) April 24, 2012 | |
| 2.11pm: Murdoch says Vince Cable listened to other people about News Corp's bid for BSkyB but wouldn't sit down for a meeting with him. | |
| He adds: | |
| I think it would have been entirely appropriate to have a meeting with Mr Cable and his advisors to lay out some of the issues as we saw them and our rationale for the transaction and our analysis of the plurality concerns. | |
| Self evident in what emerged in next 12 months that he was taking other people's advice. All we wanted to do was sit down and say here are the issues, please sit us down and let us make our case. | |
| 2.15pm: George Osborne's chief of staff Rupert Harrison gave details of Cable's role in the BSkyB takeover to News Corp executive Fréd Michel, Murdoch says. | |
| Michel met Harrison, on 9 November, confirming "tensions in the coalition around Vince Cable". | |
| Jay says Murdoch was getting confidential information about what was going on at a high level of government. Was that appropriate? | |
| "Mr Michel's job was to engage with special advisers," says Murdoch. "He reports back what he's told. I was concerned with the substance I was hearing." | |
| Harrison said Cable probably took the BSkyB referral decision "without even reading the legal advice", the inquiry hears. | |
| 2.18pm: Murdoch says it seemed like "people were speaking out of different sides of their mouth" about the BSkyB takeover bid. | |
| The inquiry hears that Jeremy Hunt was "very frustrated" that he received "strong legal advice" not to meet James Murdoch about the bid. Murdoch says he was "displeased" with this. | |
| Michel advised Murdoch to "have a chat with him [Hunt] on his mobile, which is fine". Murdoch says "not to my mind" was this a surreptitious phone call. Hunt later called Murdoch to apologise for a cancelled meeting, he says. | |
| Jay reads another email from Murdoch to Michel in which Murdoch says "you must be fucking joking. I will text him and find a time" to meet and avoid legal obstacles. | |
| Murdoch tells Jay: "As I said earlier, I was displeased." | |
| 2.23pm: Helen Goodman, the Labour MP, has described the conversations revealed between advisers to Hunt and Murdoch as "pretty serious". | |
| Goodman told the Guardian: | |
| It seems to me that J Hunt has not told the truth to Parliament. He repeatedly said "at every stage" he took advice from officials and was completely transparent. Murdoch's evidence makes clear that for the period prior to 23 Dec 2010 this is not so: that he was parti pris and had off the record conversations in his role as SofS for DCMS. This is pretty serious. | |
| 2.27pm: Here's a news story written by Patrick Wintour, Lisa O'Carroll and Dan Sabbagh on the criticism Jeremy Hunt faces over access News Corp execs were given during the BSkyB bid process. | |
| 2.27pm: Jay says Michel was also "working" on Vince Cable's special adviser, Giles Wilkes. Jay says Wilkes warned him to lay off, saying a dialogue would be inappropriate. | |
| Murdoch says: "They didn't want anyone talking about the process because they didn't have one." | |
| 2.28pm: The internal project code name for News Corp's purchase of the rest of BSkyB was "Rubicon". | |
| The inquiry hears that Hunt asked Michel, the News Corp public affairs executive, to send him documents "privately" in November 2010. | |
| Reading from a Michel email, Jay quotes: "Jeremy has also asked me to send him relevant documents privately". | |
| 2.29pm: Dan Sabbagh, head of media at the Guardian, has just tweeted: | |
| So Cable refuses to see Murdoch. Murdoch's team hustle for info from Osborne + arrange a private phone call with Hunt. | |
| — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 | — Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) April 24, 2012 |
| 2.30pm: Michel emails on 23 November to say he would have a session with Hunt's adviser the following week, and also that Hunt had asked him to send him documents privately. | |
| Why the on-going dialogue with Hunt, asks Jay. "We wanted any interested party to see the revleavnt arguments," says Murdoch. "We wanted do make sure the right legal tests were applied." | |
| Michel also spoke to advisers of deputy prime minister and prime minister. | |
| Hunt said he was "pretty amazed" by Ofcom's public interest findings and the "clear bias," the inquiry hears. | |
| 2.32pm: Ofcom raises issues with Sky bid, Michel on 14 December said he had a "very good debrief with Hunt ... he is pretty amazed by its findings, methodology and clear bias. He very much shares our views on it." | |
| Michel said he would try to set up a meeting with Hunt before Christmas. | |
| We don't know whether that's a reference to Hunt or Hunt's special adviser, says Jay. Or his office, says Murdoch. | |
| Jay asks whether Murdoch took Hunt references to mean him personally or his office. "Communicating through his office ... I didn't assume it was all direct," says Murdoch. | |
| "But I think you can appreciate the channel wasn't of my primary concern, it was the content of the notes which were confirming our concerns about the process." | |
| 2.33pm: Rebekah Brooks told James Murdoch in an email that there was "total bafflement" from George Osborne's office at Ofcom's public interest statement about the BSkyB bid. | |
| "The whole thing at this point was very frustrating," Murdoch says. | |
| 2.39pm: On 21 December 2010, Vince Cable's remarks to undercover reporters about the BSkyB takeover became public. | |
| The fact that the Daily Telegraph initially left out Cable's comments about BSkyB, and that the paper was in the alliance of media owners against the BSkyB takeover, "was a cause of concern for us" says Murdoch. "We thought it was pretty inappropriate." | |
| His comments on the issue were later revealed by the BBC's Robert Peston and Cable was removed from the process. | |
| The inquiry hears that Michel spoke to Nick Clegg's office in the wake of Vince Cable's "war on Murdoch" comments. Michel said in an email: "Just spoke. He [Clegg] is absolutely furious." | |
| Murdoch says he sought to discover what was the best channel to liaise with the department for culture, media and sport after Cable was stripped of oversight of the BSkyB bid. | |
| 2.46pm: Jay says informal contact took place "secretly" between Michel and Hunt's special adviser. Murdoch says it was "acceptable and part of the process". | |
| Jay says further emails will raise the question whether they "fell into the appropriate box or the inappropriate box". | |
| Another Michel email, on New Year's Eve 2010, said about Ofcom's report on the bid: "We already know privately Jeremy will not look at it before next Wednesday." | |
| 2.47pm: Murdoch says there was lots of selective leaking about the BSkyB takeover bid. | |
| Jay says News Corp was also being passed insight into private conversations between Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, and the secretary of state, Jeremy Hunt. | |
| Murdoch says this "might have just been trying to make nice" while in public following a separate course. He adds that he took this information "with a grain of salt". | |
| 2.48pm: Murdoch says most of the emails detail News Corp's concern its opinion was heard during the regulatory process. | |
| This is a large-scale process that is in the hands of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport … and it was entirely reasonable to try and communicate with policymakers about the merits of what we were proposing. | |
| 2.49pm: Labrokes suspend betting on Hunt being the first minister to leave the cabinet, following the evidence heard at the Leveson inquiry today. | |
| 2.51pm: On 23 January 2011, Jeremy Hunt believed it was "almost game over" for those who opposed News Corp's takeover of BSkyB, according to emails read by Jay. | |
| In another Michel email following discussions with Hunt's special adviser, Murdoch is given information about timetables and Hunt's view of the merits of your case, Jay tells Murdoch. | |
| "His view is that once he announces publicly he has a strong UIL [undertaking in lieu] it's almost game over for the opposition," Jay reads from the email. | |
| Jay: "Mr Hunt was still acting in a quasi-judicial role, he is letting you know what his view is." | |
| He adds: "There's a difference between you having that view and the judge behind the scenes [Hunt] telling you that he has that view as well." | |
| 2.55pm: Murdoch maintains that he took what Hunt's advisers were telling him "with a grain of salt". | |
| Jay presses Murdoch on whether he knew that Hunt, as the "judge" of the takeover, approved of News Corp's BSkyB bid. | |
| "Let's accept you had a brilliant case, but there's a difference between you having a brilliant case and the judge thinking you had a brilliant case," says Jay. | |
| Murdoch replies: | |
| />I took all of that with a grain of salt. It may have just been his office saying it will all be fine ... he only took advice of Ofcom and OFT at every turn. | |
| 2.56pm: In an email on 11 January 2011, Michel said Hunt "wants us to take the heat with him in the next two weeks" and "he shared our objectives", the inquiry hears. | |
| Murdoch was given a detailed briefing on what Hunt was planning to say to parliament on 23 January. | |
| 2.57pm: Esther Addley, the Guardian correspondent, has just tweeted: | |
| Hacks in court craning to read emails being flashed up on screens in court. Can't quite believe all they are hearing #Leveson | |
| — esther addley (@estheraddley) April 24, 2012 | |
| 3.00pm: Murdoch maintains he was "very worried" about the prospect of the BSkyB bid, despite the positive signals he was receiving from the office of Hunt. | |
| In another email on 23 January 2011, Michel says: "He [Hunt] is keen for me to work with his team on the [Hunt] statement ... and offer some possible language". | |
| Separately Michel says he has managed to get some information about Hunt's proposed statement "although absolutely illegal". | |
| To gasps in the courtroom, Murdoch stresses that this is a joke, but he is "not so sure" whether this is illegal. | |
| Jay describes it as a "sneak preview" as the secretary of state's planned statement to parliament. | |
| 3.05pm: Murdoch says the takeover was "hotly contested" and he imagined that Jeremy Hunt's office was in contact with "all the relevant parties". | |
| Jay describes News Corp's communication with Hunt's office as "surreptitious". | |
| 3.06pm: The betting firm Paddy Power has now suspended betting on Jeremy Hunt becoming the first minister to leave cabinet, following the same move by Ladbrokes in the past hour. | |
| Paddy Power has just tweeted: | |
| BREAKING: We have suspended betting on politician Jeremy Hunt leaving cabinet. Something big is about to go down...??!! | |
| — paddypower (@paddypower) April 24, 2012 | |
| 3.08pm: In another email, Michel tells James Murdoch on 25 January after Hunt's statement to parliament: "JH believes we are in a good place tonight". | |
| Jay suggests that Michel is attempting to obtain private documents that have not yet been published. | |
| The Labour MP Ben Bradshaw has just tweeted: | |
| It's worse than I suspected at the time. Jeremy Hunt's office was basically operating as a branch office for the Murdoch empire #leveson | |
| — Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) April 24, 2012 | |
| 3.11pm: Jeremy Hunt went to see Swan Lake with his special adviser Adam Smith, the inquiry hears, as Michel told Murdoch he "managed to get JH" before he went to the theatre. | |
| Michel told Murdoch on 11 February that Alex Salmond's adviser had agreed to call Jeremy Hunt about the BSkyB deal "whenever we need him to". | |
| Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Independent and London Evening Standard, has just tweeted: | |
| if Jeremy #Hunt needs a job, I'm looking for a successor to @amolrajan as my media adviser. Applications to my office please | |
| — Evgeny Lebedev (@mrevgenylebedev) April 24, 2012 | |
| Murdoch denies any imputation that Alex Salmond was given positive coverage in the Scottish Sun in return for help lobbying Jeremy Hunt on the BSkyB deal. | |
| "That was absolutely not News Corporation's policy and I would not do business like that," Murdoch says, flatly. | |
| 3.23pm: The inquiry has taken a short break. | |
| 3.27pm: The inquiry has resumed and Jay says there are 80 further emails to go. | |
| 3.31pm: Murdoch says he wanted Jeremy Hunt to understand that News Corp shareholders were restive over the length of the transaction period. | |
| In another email, the News Corp executive Fred Michel refers to a dinner with Alex Salmond and the editor of the Scottish Sun, which had just decided to back Salmond's Scottish National party at the next Scottish election. | |
| In the email, Michel says: "Alex [Salmond] was keen to see if he could help smooth the way for the process", referring to the BSkyB takeover bid. | |
| Ben Fenton, the FT correspondent, has just tweeted: | |
| [The enthusiasm of @rupertmurdoch for Alex Salmond is, I think, now put in context.] | |
| — Ben Fenton (@benfenton) April 24, 2012 | |
| 3.40pm: In May, Jeremy Hunt's adviser told Fréd Michel, of News Corp, that Hunt would call James Murdoch on his mobile about the BSkyB bid. | |
| Murdoch is told in another email following a debate in the Commons about the takeover that Hunt was "very happy with the way today went and with the absolutely idiotic debate" by Tom Watson and John Prescott. | |
| Jay suggests this was another example of News Corp getting the inside track on Hunt's decision. | |
| Murdoch says: "I guess so, but this is a debrief after the public debate, nothing particularly new is disclosed." | |
| 3.41pm: On 7 July, James Murdoch was given private information about a meeting between David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt to discuss setting up the Leveson inquiry. | |
| 3.44pm: Jay appears to have finished going through the emails. He asks Murdoch whether Hunt carried out his quasi-judicial review of the BSkyB bid in a proper way: | |
| Murdoch says: | Murdoch says: |
| He [Hunt] consulted widely, he took advice from all sides … and it was an incredibly rigorous process in an environment that was uncharted territory. At every step … he followed the independent advice that he said he was going to. | |
| On News Corp's conduct, Murdoch says with such a large takeover you would see an active public affairs engagement but this is separate to questions over ethics of the press. | |
| "I really can't see. I don't know the ins and outs of Westminster but we were receiving feedback and information through our public affairs channel," he adds. | |
| 3.47pm: Jay suggests Murdoch is "somewhat blind" to the apparent horse trading between the Sun's support for the Conservative party and that party's subsequent support for the BSkyB takeover. | |
| Murdoch rejects this suggestion. He says there was "absolutely not a quid pro quo for that support". | |
| 3.50pm: The Guardian's Helen Pidd has written this article on Frédéric Michel, the man whose emails have put so much pressure on Jeremy Hunt. | |
| 3.52pm: Murdoch says he has had "cause for reflection" on the effectiveness of regulation of the press. | |
| As the subject of media coverage, Murdoch says he has questions about the prominence of corrections and right of reply. He claims that the Guardian has made more than 40 corrections in last 10 months about News Corp. | |
| Ian Katz, the Guardian's deputy editor and head of news, has just tweeted: | |
| J Murdoch reference to 40 Guardian corrections on News Corp presumably counts all articles changed to reflect new Dowler deletion evidence | |
| — ian katz (@iankatz1000) April 24, 2012 | |
| 3.57pm: Murdoch says Leveson should ensure "stronger enshrining of speech rights" coupled with stronger consequences for those who fall outside the boundaries. | |
| He says: | |
| The things to weigh up are a stronger enshrining of speech rights, coupled with a stronger set of consequences ... just as one of the great learnings for us has been not to allow an operating company to investigate itself without absolute transparency to the corporate centre, it is also difficult to allow an industry to control itself on a voluntary basis given the concerns we obviously all have. | |
| Sky News has just tweeted: | |
| Labour MP John Mann writes to Cabinet Secretary calling for investigation into contact between Govt & News Corp during BSkyB takeover. | |
| — Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) April 24, 2012 | |
| 4.00pm: Murdoch is asked about the future of media regulation in the UK. | |
| He says: "There will be fewer newspapers in the future than there are today. Plurality continues to be enhanced by breaking down of barriers ... in digital environment. | |
| "You have one person with a laptop on one side and Google on the other. Where do you draw the boundaries, what is the discourse you are trying to control, construct a set of rules around?" | |
| Lord Justice Leveson points out that Google is an aggregator. | |
| Murdoch replies: "The way search algorithms work ... I shouldn't say unbiased ... affects the results in terms of what's presented, the way in which aggregators approach the set of data it is compiling is relevant editorially, I'm sorry to say." | |
| 4.05pm: Murdoch says there are other ways to guarantee independence other than profit – harking back to his famous MacTaggart lecture in 2009 (pdf) – but that making money is the most durable of these. | |
| 4.08pm: Murdoch is asked questions put by core participants. | |
| Jay asks whether James discussed the ongoing phone-hacking saga with his father Rupert between 2008 and 2009. | |
| Murdoch says he did discuss the phone-hacking scandal with Rupert in 2009 following the Guardian story about the Gordon Taylor settlement. | |
| The BBC reporter Ross Hawkins has just tweeted: | |
| Source tells me Hunt is not even considering resignation and will give his own evidence at #Leveson | |
| — Ross Hawkins (@rosschawkins) April 24, 2012 | |
| 4.12pm: Jay has completed his questioning of Murdoch. | |
| Lord Justice Leveson asks Murdoch about the Press Complaints Commission. | |
| Murdoch says he would "like to have more comfort" of training around the PCC code. "Having people in and around the PCC who are outside the current working press may be a good thing to have," he adds. | |
| 4.14pm: PoliticsHome's Paul Waugh has tweeted: | |
| No.10 says PM has full confidence in Hunt. But refuses to say PM has full confidence in 'the process followed' by DCMS. | |
| — Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) April 24, 2012 | |
| 4.15pm: Jeremy Hunt is fighting for his political survival, but appears to have the backing of No 10. | |
| Nicholas Watt, the Guardian's chief political correspondent, has just tweeted: | |
| No 10: 'yea', spokesman says when asked if PM has confidence in Jeremy Hunt. 'He does' #leveson | |
| — Nicholas Watt (@nicholaswatt) April 24, 2012 | |
| Kiran Stacey, the Financial Times political correspondent, has just tweeted: | |
| Hunt fighting hard. Ally says: "We have published all out meetings throughout. We have set a new bar in transparency." | |
| — kiranstacey (@kiranstacey) April 24, 2012 | |
| 4.17pm: Lord Justice Leveson asks whether he has given consideration to how to more effectively regulate plurality and media's independence from government. | |
| "The first part of protecting plurality is being crisp around what plurality might be sufficient otherwise you would simply have ability of regulatory body to intervene at any stage," says Murdoch. | |
| "What is a state of affairs where there is a sufficiency of plurality? What is a tolerable decrease in plurality that could result from business performance and mergers and acquisitions and the like. Then it would become more straightforward and light touch environment." | |
| 4.20pm: Jay says the Leveson inquiry will shortly publish emails sent between Fréd Michel, James Murdoch and Jeremy Hunt's special adviser, Adam Smith, about the BSkyB takeover bid. | |
| 4.23pm: The Leveson inquiry has finished for the day. We will keep the liveblog open for further breaking news and reaction. | |
| 4.23pm: The Leveson inquiry has published 163 pages of correspondence between Jeremy Hunt's office and News Corp over the BSkyB takeover here. | |
| We will dig through and post interesting extracts here. | |
| 4.29pm: The News Corp head of public affairs, Fréd Michel, told James Murdoch in an email on 30 June 2011 following a debrief with Jeremy Hunt that "key for him [Hunt] is to find a way to weaken Avaaz campaign's arguments". (Page 153 of Exhibit KRM18 - PDF). | |
| 4.41pm: Fréd Michel asked Adam Smith, the special advisor to Jeremy Hunt, in an email exchange in June last year about arranging a meeting with Ed Vaizey, the culture minister. | |
| Smith resists repeated attempts by Michel to meet Vaizey. Defeated, Michel says he feels "victimised" before adding: "By the way, does that mean you and Jeremy will not be coming to Take That on 4th July?" (Page 145 of Exhibit KRM18 - PDF) | |
| 4.51pm: Jeremy Hunt told News Corp's Fréd Michel in June last year that he had been "causing a lot of chaos and moaning from people at DCMS on our behalf", according to the emails (Page 141 of Exhibit KRM18 – PDF and pictured below). | |
| 5.03pm: The emails show that News Corp was confident in April 2011 that Jeremy Hunt would give the green light to its bid for full control of BSkyB. | |
| The News Corp executive Fréd Michel signs off a detailed email to James Murdoch on 13 April 2011: "We know it will clear it. We just need to push them strongly now to announced is as early as possible." (Page 120 of Exhibit KRM18 – PDF). | |
| 5.10pm: Labour has called for the resignation of the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, over allegations that he set up a private back channel to News Corporation at a time when he was charged with making a quasi-judicial decision on whether to allow its takeover of BSkyB. | |
| Read the full story here. | |
| 5.15pm: We have highlighted six key emails that will pile the pressure on Jeremy Hunt here. | |
| 5.32pm: Here is a quick summary of the fallout from James Murdoch's evidence to the Leveson inquiry: | |
| • Jeremy Hunt is facing pressure to resign as culture secretary amid claims he set up a private channel with News Corp over the BSkyB bid | |
| • No 10 has backed Hunt over the allegations | |
| • The Leveson inquiry has published 163 pages of correspondence between News Corp and Hunt's advisor over BSkyB deal | |
| • Murdoch defended extensive private contact with Hunt's office as "legitimate advocacy" | |
| 5.44pm: David Leigh and Nick Davies have analysed how Jeremy Hun |