Hackgate - more like an action movie...
I was going to do this blog about the committees meeting today, but I think that things have changed somewhat and so I am going to do things a little differently now.
I want to start by getting the events of the pie/shaving foam attack out of the way. I am hardly Rupert Murdoch's biggest fan, but the man was there to answer questions to a serious parliamentary commission and on top of that is a man in his 80s. He does not deserve to be hit in the face with shaving foam or whatever it was, by some dick who thinks it is big and clever. In fact this could have been detrimental. As US citizen's Rupert and James Murdoch did not have to even be there and could have refused to come back after the interval. On top of that people will have some sort of respect for both of the Murdochs for coming back. I want to state that no matter what I say today in this blog I could never condone the behaviour of the man that did that act.
Ok, on to the other stuff. Like I say, this is different than I originally planned so bare with me. Today the now ex Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of the Met Police stood in front of the Home Affairs Committee to answer questions about their relations with News International. There was a lot of blaming each other, particularly where the employment of Neil Wallis was concerned. Just to let you know, he was employed on a temporary, part time contract for PR for the Met in 2009. He is also ex-NI and was in regular contact with a Mr Andy Coulson who was employed by David Cameron when he entered office. Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates denied knowledge of their friendship and communication potential. They also both denied knowledge of the employment of Yates's daughter at the Met. There will also be a full investigation and any corrupt officers will be prosecuted.
BREAKING NEWS AS I TYPE: Neil Wallis was informally advising Andy Coulson before the election in 2010 who at this time was working for David Cameron. There will be a statement from the Conservatives soon, but this is an interesting development.
Back to this then. The Murdochs stood before the committee and before the pie/foam incident were not looking that good. RM seemed to be playing the dodery old man part, I am not sure that this is accurate and may have been an act. This is a highly intelligent man we are talking about who has built up News Corp from nothing and I highly doubt he would still be in charge if his faculties were failing. James Murdoch was good at starting to answer questions and Rupert Murdoch was very good at jumping in at the last minute instead. The questions were not really the right ones. There needed to be more focus on the relationship between NI and the police and perhaps more depth into the relationship between NI and the politicians. There were cases given by RM that he visited No. 10 Downing St via the back door and was told to do so apparently by both David Cameron and Gordon Brown. Also there was a case where Tony Blair flew half way around the world to lunch with RM at his request. This shows the power behind the man and it is surely about time that politicians broke away from all the press in the manner they appear to be doing with NI. They need to be accountable to us and not Murdoch or any other media owners.
The Murdochs were also unaware of any dodgy payments going to anyone outside the company and were horrified that what happened, particularly to the Dowlers, happened. They did appear genuinely sorry for what has happened to be fair on them and it is hard to see how this could have got up as far as RM as he has such a large company to run and NI is such a small part of News Corp.
Rebekah Brooks is currently under going scrutiny and is her typical stumbling self. She does have to be careful though as she was arrested on Sunday and as there is an on going investigation she is limited on what she can say. This being the case the questions have to be blunt and her answers simple. I doubt there will be any glitteringly fascinating new information arising from this. She has expressed her apologies for the way journalists behaved on her watch and is mostly reiterating what the Murdochs have to say. All else she can do is go over what she spoke about at the committee in 2003. So I will leave her section there. All I will say is I wonder if her husband got his bag back...(he claimed a friend left a bag containing a phone and a laptop in the wrong place in the car park and this got put in the bin and was then handed to the police...this is now evidence).
All that is left to say is...DO NOT get on the wrong side of Wendy Murdoch. She is awsome!
I want to start by getting the events of the pie/shaving foam attack out of the way. I am hardly Rupert Murdoch's biggest fan, but the man was there to answer questions to a serious parliamentary commission and on top of that is a man in his 80s. He does not deserve to be hit in the face with shaving foam or whatever it was, by some dick who thinks it is big and clever. In fact this could have been detrimental. As US citizen's Rupert and James Murdoch did not have to even be there and could have refused to come back after the interval. On top of that people will have some sort of respect for both of the Murdochs for coming back. I want to state that no matter what I say today in this blog I could never condone the behaviour of the man that did that act.
Ok, on to the other stuff. Like I say, this is different than I originally planned so bare with me. Today the now ex Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of the Met Police stood in front of the Home Affairs Committee to answer questions about their relations with News International. There was a lot of blaming each other, particularly where the employment of Neil Wallis was concerned. Just to let you know, he was employed on a temporary, part time contract for PR for the Met in 2009. He is also ex-NI and was in regular contact with a Mr Andy Coulson who was employed by David Cameron when he entered office. Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates denied knowledge of their friendship and communication potential. They also both denied knowledge of the employment of Yates's daughter at the Met. There will also be a full investigation and any corrupt officers will be prosecuted.
BREAKING NEWS AS I TYPE: Neil Wallis was informally advising Andy Coulson before the election in 2010 who at this time was working for David Cameron. There will be a statement from the Conservatives soon, but this is an interesting development.
Back to this then. The Murdochs stood before the committee and before the pie/foam incident were not looking that good. RM seemed to be playing the dodery old man part, I am not sure that this is accurate and may have been an act. This is a highly intelligent man we are talking about who has built up News Corp from nothing and I highly doubt he would still be in charge if his faculties were failing. James Murdoch was good at starting to answer questions and Rupert Murdoch was very good at jumping in at the last minute instead. The questions were not really the right ones. There needed to be more focus on the relationship between NI and the police and perhaps more depth into the relationship between NI and the politicians. There were cases given by RM that he visited No. 10 Downing St via the back door and was told to do so apparently by both David Cameron and Gordon Brown. Also there was a case where Tony Blair flew half way around the world to lunch with RM at his request. This shows the power behind the man and it is surely about time that politicians broke away from all the press in the manner they appear to be doing with NI. They need to be accountable to us and not Murdoch or any other media owners.
The Murdochs were also unaware of any dodgy payments going to anyone outside the company and were horrified that what happened, particularly to the Dowlers, happened. They did appear genuinely sorry for what has happened to be fair on them and it is hard to see how this could have got up as far as RM as he has such a large company to run and NI is such a small part of News Corp.
Rebekah Brooks is currently under going scrutiny and is her typical stumbling self. She does have to be careful though as she was arrested on Sunday and as there is an on going investigation she is limited on what she can say. This being the case the questions have to be blunt and her answers simple. I doubt there will be any glitteringly fascinating new information arising from this. She has expressed her apologies for the way journalists behaved on her watch and is mostly reiterating what the Murdochs have to say. All else she can do is go over what she spoke about at the committee in 2003. So I will leave her section there. All I will say is I wonder if her husband got his bag back...(he claimed a friend left a bag containing a phone and a laptop in the wrong place in the car park and this got put in the bin and was then handed to the police...this is now evidence).
All that is left to say is...DO NOT get on the wrong side of Wendy Murdoch. She is awsome!
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