A Liberal Democrat minister has told the inquiry News Corporation lobbyist Fred Michel made “veiled threats” to the coalition over the BSkyB bid. Norman Lamb – minister for employment relations, consumer and postal affairs – told the Leveson Inquiry today he met with Michel at Portcullis House in June and October 2010. He said Michel claimed… Read more »
Vince Cable has claimed News Corporation made “veiled threats” against the Liberal Democrat Party over the BSkyB bid. The business secretary – in charge of overseeing the proposed takeover until December 2010 – told the Leveson Inquiry today colleagues had approached him claiming his party would be “done over” by News International newspapers if the… Read more »
Education secretary Michael Gove has denied having advanced knowledge of News Corporation’s BSkyB bid. The minister – who described News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch as one of the “most impressive and significant figures of the past 50 years” – admitted it would have been important if he knew about the bid before it was officially… Read more »
David Cameron was aware Jeremy Hunt supported the News Corporation BSkyB takeover weeks before he was appointed to oversee the bid, the Leveson Inquiry has heard. The inquiry was shown a memo from Hunt to Cameron, sent in November 2010, in which the Culture Secretary championed News Corporation’s bid for the remaining shares in BSkyB…. Read more »
Rupert Murdoch has denied Jeremy Hunt was “on the side” of News Corp over the company’s failed BSkyB takeover bid. He told the Leveson Inquiry he did not believe he had met the Culture Secretary and had never discussed the bid with him. It was revealed at the inquiry on Tuesday James Murdoch had spoken briefly… Read more »
**From Comment is Free/Guardian by Brian Cathcart Murdoch’s persona is ingenious, but News Corp’s corrupting influence is laid bare in cold detail in the Jeremy Hunt emails Rupert Murdoch’s critics, watching him testify, were no doubt thinking: “The devious old bastard. He forgets so selectively and he dissembles so artfully.” And what were Murdoch’s many… Read more »
