News of the World phone hacking: Will Rebekah Brooks FINALLY go?

• We turned a blind eye to what was going on, says Cameron, as he approves judge-led public inquiry into hacking scandal
• Speculation grows NotW will be replaced by The Sun On Sunday

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:37 PM on 8th July 2011

David Cameron today said he would have accepted the resignation of Rebekah Brooks after reports that she had offered it.

His comment will be interpreted as a direct rebuke to News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch.

The Prime Minister also promised action to "get to the bottom" of the phone hacking scandal but said it was not just about the press but about the police and "about how politics works too".

Accepting some of the blame, Mr Cameron said party leaders 'were so keen to win the support of newspapers we turned a blind eye to the need to sort this issue.'

In a desperate attempt to halt the phone-hacking backlash engulfing his media empire, Mr Murdoch  yesterday sacrificed the News of the World.

The tycoon moved ruthlessly to try to save his bid to seize full control of the broadcaster BSkyB and protect his embattled son James and UK boss Mrs Brooks.

At the same time, police were preparing to arrest Andy Coulson, former editor of the 168-year-old paper, over police  bribery claims.

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Stone faced: Rebekah Brooks leaves the offices of News International last night after making the announcement to staff that the paper was to close

James Murdoch arriving at Wapping this morning (left) and leaving last night (right)

Drowning their sorrows: Members of the News International staff console each other over a drink at a pub near the Wapping HQ

Murdoch sent shock waves through the political and media establishments with his decision to axe the News of the World, once the best-selling paper on the planet and still selling 2.6million copies a week.

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Around 250 people could lose their jobs as a result of the decision.

A senior source said there was 'incandescent rage' and a 'lynch-mob mentality' in the newsroom last night, all directed at Mrs Brooks.

On an extraordinary day of developments in the scandal:

• MPs of all parties described the  closure as 'cynical' and a 'management stunt', predicting that Murdoch would quickly open a Sunday version of the Sun;
• Several senior Cabinet ministers were understood to be desperate to find a way to halt the tycoon's £10billion battle for BSkyB while it was announced that a decision would not be made until September at the earliest;
• News Corp share prices staged a recovery after losing £610million from their value on Wednesday. But shares in BskyB slumped;
• It emerged that as many as 4,000 potential victims of phone hacking have been identified and could be in line for £120million in compensation;
• Corrupt police officers were said to have been illegally paid more than £100,000 for information by the News of the World;
• A second 'former senior journalist' at the paper could be arrested today while seven journalists and executives suspected of involvement in the scandal are expected to be arrested within days and are likely to face charges;
• Labour leader Ed Miliband expressed disbelief that one person to have kept her job is Mrs Brooks – editor of the paper when murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's mobile phone was hacked.

End of the world: News International's offices at Wapping where staff were yesterday told the News of the World will close

Coulson, pictured with Mrs Brooks, is expected to be arrested today after being told to report to a police station in London

Rupert and Wendi Murdoch arrive for the 2011 Allen and Co. Sun Valley Conference yesterday. Mr Murdoch has backed Mrs Brooks to continue as chief executive of News International despite claims that the News of the World hacked Milly Dowler's phone while she was editor

SCANDAL THAT SUNK THE SCREWS

2006
Aug 8: NotW's royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire arrested over allegations they hacked into royal household members' mobile phones.

2007
Jan 26: Goodman jailed for 4 months and Mulcaire for 6 months after they admit intercepting voicemail messages on royal aides' phones, including some left by Prince William. NotW editor Andy Coulson resigns.

May 31: David Cameron announces Coulson has been appointed Tory Party's director of communications and planning.

2009
Jul 9: Guardian claims NotW publisher News Group Newspapers has paid out over £1m to settle cases which threatened to reveal evidence of its journalists' alleged involvement in phone-hacking.

Jul 21: Coulson tells MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that things went 'badly wrong' under his editorship but insists he knew nothing about alleged phone-hacking.

2010
Feb 24: A CMS committee report finds no evidence Coulson knew phone-hacking was taking place but says it is 'inconceivable' no one apart from Goodman was aware of it.

May 11: Coulson made head of Coalition's media operation after Cameron becomes PM.

Sep 5: New York Times claims Coulson knew his staff were carrying out illegal phone hacking - and questions how vigorously Scotland Yard pursued the case.

2011
Jan 21: Coulson says he will resign as communications chief, as illegal eavesdropping claims while at NotW makes his job impossible.

Apr 5: Police arrest  assistant editor Ian Edmondson and the NotW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages.

Apr 8: News International admits liability and apologises to number of public figures.

Jun 21: Football pundit Andy Gray accepts £20,000 in damages after his voicemail was intercepted by NotW - while Sienna Miller is paid £100,000.

Jul 4: Claims emerge that Milly Dowler's mobile phone was hacked after she had gone missing. Her family's solicitor said it offered her parents Bob and Sally false hope she was still alive.

Jul 5: NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks is 'appalled' by the allegations.

Jul 6: Cameron announces public inquiry into the scandal. Reports emerge that relatives of soldiers killed in action may have been victims of phone hacking.

Jul 7: Royal British Legion drops NotW as campaign partner. More advertisers pull out.
NI chairman James Murdoch tells staff. Sunday's issue will be last NotW edition.

David Cameron, a close friend and neighbour of Mrs Brooks, was confronted with demands to appoint a judge and commence an official investigation into press standards immediately.

The Prime Minister is also facing acute embarrassment over Mr Coulson, who resigned as Downing Street's director of communications in January.

He is thought to have been asked to present himself today at a London police station, where he will be formally questioned under suspicion of involvement in hacking.

Mr Coulson is also alleged to have condoned secret payments to police officers while in charge of the newspaper.

In an extraordinary email breaking the news to 250 staff that Sunday's edition would be the last, James Murdoch, chairman of News International, admitted the firm had 'failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose'.

He effectively confessed that Parliament had been lied to over the affair and said he had authorised out-of-court payments to phone hacking victims in an attempt to buy their silence.

Mr Murdoch said the 'proud' history of the News of the World had been sullied by 'inhuman' behaviour. He went on: 'The company paid out-of-court settlements approved by me. I now know that I did not have a complete picture when I did so.  This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret.'

The newspaper had been plunged into crisis by revelations that messages on the mobile phone of Milly Dowler had apparently been hacked into and deleted during the search for the schoolgirl, giving her family false hope she might still be alive.

Yesterday the Royal British Legion severed its links with the News of the World as its campaigning partner amid claims that the families of servicemen and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan had also been targeted. As the day went on, leading advertisers – including some of Britain's biggest companies and the Government – said they were pulling publicity from the title.

Despite the growing furore, most observers had expected Mr Murdoch to respond by finally agreeing to get rid of Mrs Brooks.

None had predicted that he would instead ruthlessly shut down the News of the World, which produces vast profits that help keep the Times, its loss-making sister title, running.

News of the World editor Colin Myler is understood to have been given just ten minutes' notice of the decision and been profoundly angered.

Downing Street, which is deeply embroiled in the scandal because of the Prime Minister's decision to hire Mr Coulson as his chief spin doctor, insisted public inquiries would proceed. 'What matters is that all wrongdoing is exposed and those responsible for these appalling acts are brought to justice,' a spokesman said.

Of Mrs Brooks, Ed Miliband – who will today use a speech to claim the Press Complaints Commission has failed and should be abolished – insisted: 'She should go, take responsibility.'

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke suggested the closure of the newspaper was cynical, claiming: 'All they're going to do is rebrand it.'

'NO OTHER OPTION': THE MOMENT STAFF HEARD NotW WOULD CLOSE

A News of the World insider last night said staff had walked out of its Wapping offices in shock after being told the news that Rupert Murdoch was closing the newspaper.

Workers' suspicions were first aroused when management were called into a meeting at around 4pm, and it soon came out that this Sunday's edition will be its last.

The insider said colleagues around him sat stunned while others stood up in anger when the announcement was made as management told them 'there was no other option left'.

But he also revealed that there were rumours of a replacement for the News of the World sweeping across the newsroom up to seven months ago, suggesting that Rupert Murdoch may have been planning for the closure ever since the phone hacking scandal first took hold.

'We all knew something was up at around 4pm when all the management suddenly disappeared, and then they quickly came out, took us into groups and broke the news,' our insider said.

'It's funny because just last night we were all saying that we thought they would never sink us.

'The reactions were mixed, some sat really quietly others stood up in anger, but I didn't see anyone smashing up the office.

'It was really short, and lacked detail, and almost every question was met with we just don't know yet.

'Afterwards, the reality sank in. It's chaos here and people don't know whether to stay or go. I just left and so did others.

'The last few days have been horrible here, it has been a toxic atmosphere. But the bottom line is that a lot of people feel very hard done by because they didn't do the hacking and didn't cause this. This has been caused by many people high-up or no longer here and we now have to try to pick up their lives and get on.

'Nobody knows what will happen on Monday, but some will be told to clear their desks.'

By KIRSTY WALKER and JAMES CHAPMAN

David Cameron was last night facing searching questions over his close  friendship with News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.

The Prime Minister also came under pressure once again over his judgment in employing Andy Coulson as his Downing Street communications chief.

Mr Coulson resigned in January, saying the allegations of misconduct under his editorship of the News of the World were making his job impossible.

Good friends: David Cameron is facing questions over his close friendship with Rebekah Brooks in the wake of the scandal

Ed Miliband yesterday repeated his call for Mrs Brooks to quit as he sought to exploit the huge embarrassment to Mr Cameron over the affair. The Labour leader said the newspaper's closure did not 'solve the problem'.

Critics in Mr Cameron's own party believe he became far too close to Mrs Brooks, a fellow member of the so-called 'Chipping Norton set' in Oxfordshire.

Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha have regularly dined with Mrs Brooks and her husband Charlie, including at Christmas last year. The closeness between the two is even said to extend to going on horse-riding jaunts across the countryside. 

The Camerons are also friends of PR king Matthew Freud and his wife Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of News International owner Rupert. 

And even on the day when News of the World staff were learning their fate, the Prime Minister was throwing open the doors of Number Ten to host the News International-owned Sun's 16th Police Bravery Awards. Mrs Brooks had been due to attend, but pulled out.

Close relationship: David Cameron appointed Andy Coulson as his communications chiefs in 2007, but faced questions over his judgment in employing him

Mr Miliband said yesterday: 'Lots of people [at the News of the World] are losing their jobs. One of the people who is remaining in her job is the chief executive of News International who was the editor at the time the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone happened. Rebekah Brooks should go and take responsibility.

'Anyone who runs an organisation would think "even if I didn't know about these things, someone has to take responsibility for what's happened".

'I think that the idea that she is leading the investigation at News International beggars belief.'
Mr Cameron was forced to attack the newspaper's 2002 hacking of Milly Dowler's phone during a press briefing in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

The next day at Prime Minister's Questions Mr Miliband questioned his judgment in employing Mr Coulson.

Mr Miliband also called for Mrs Brooks to quit, while Downing Street sought to emphasise the importance of the police inquiry.

Mr Cameron's courting of Mr Murdoch and his executives goes back to his time in opposition.
In 2008, the Tory leader was criticised for accepting free flights so he could hold talks with the media tycoon on his luxury yacht off a Greek island.

His efforts paid off when The Sun switched allegiance to the Conservatives hours after then prime minister Gordon Brown's make-or-break speech to the Labour conference in September 2009. The Sun had backed Labour in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 general elections.

But it is not just the Conservatives who face questions over their links with Mr Murdoch. Mr Miliband has employed Tom Baldwin, a former journalist at the Murdoch-owned Times, as his own communications chief. 

And Gordon Brown and Tony Blair worked desperately to foster close relationships with the media mogul an d News International staff.

In his book Where Power Lies, former Downing Street aide Lance Price said Mr Brown was 'obsessed' with trying to win Mr Murdoch's support and devised tax policies to appeal to him.

Mr Blair's predecessor as Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, was convinced The Sun's hostility cost him the 1992 election. He persuaded Mr Blair to take The Sun and its sister paper seriously. 

Within months of Mr Blair's election as leader, Mr Murdoch was telling his editors that he was 'someone you could imagine people voting for'. But there was deep unease among Labour MPs that Mr Murdoch's pro-American, pro-Israeli and pro-military intervention stance on the war on terrorism was reflected in Downing Street.

Mr Blair regularly spoke to Mr Murdoch at crucial points in his premiership, including on the eve of the Iraq war and the day after the publication of the Hutton report into the death of Dr David Kelly.

Cherie Blair even revealed news of her fourth pregnancy – at the age of 45 – to Mrs Brooks, which led to the Sun running a front-page story.

By JASON GROVES, Political Correspondent

Rupert Murdoch's controversial £10billion bid to seize control of  satellite broadcaster BSkyB was kicked into the long grass last night, as ministers came under intense  pressure to veto it.

Government sources indicated that a decision on the deal – which had been expected within days – would be delayed until 'at least' September  following a storm of public protest.

Public consultation on the deal closes today and the Government has been flooded with more than 140,000 individual protests. Sources said it would take 'weeks if not months' to process the complaints.

Decisions: Nick Clegg is believed to be among several ministers arguing privately for the bid to be put on hold, while Ed Miliband had also called for the deal to be halted

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is believed to be among several ministers arguing privately for the bid to be put on hold.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for the deal to be halted and referred to the Competition Commission.

Downing Street refused to  comment on the issue, saying it was  a 'quasi-judicial' issue for Culture  Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

COMING SOON, THE SUN ON SUNDAY

The decision to close the News of the World has prompted immediate speculation that its stablemate, the six-days-a-week Sun newspaper, will simply become a seven-day operation with a new Sunday edition.

Rumours were fuelled when it emerged that three new website addresses were all registered by an unnamed individual on Tuesday.

The domain names 'TheSunOnSunday.co.uk', 'TheSunOnSunday.com' and SunOnSunday.co.uk were all registered on July 5. The title Sunday Sun already belongs to a regional newspaper based in Newcastle upon Tyne.

There has already been fierce industry speculation that Rebekah Brooks had already wanted to turn the Sun and News of the World into a seven-day operation to cut production costs.

The same plan is being suggested for the Times and Sunday Times.

Ministers fear they could be sued by Mr Murdoch's powerful News  Corporation if they kick out the bid, having previously said it could go ahead with certain conditions.

But one minister last night said it would be 'unthinkable' for formal government approval to be given in the current climate.

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, called on broadcasting regulator Ofcom to consider whether News Corporation remained a 'fit and proper' business to own a controlling stake in BSkyB. Mr Murdoch's son, James, is chairman of both BSkyB and News Corporation in Europe. Three other News Corporation executives are also on the BSkyB board.

In theory, Ofcom could veto a deal on the grounds that it did not consider News Corp to be a 'fit and proper' business.

Ofcom said it was 'closely monitoring the situation' and kept the fit and proper test under review on an 'ongoing basis'.

Mr Murdoch already owns 40 per cent of BSkyB. Critics, including rival media organisations and MPs on all sides, fear the takeover deal would hand him  massive power, and damage media  plurality in Britain.

In an interview with yesterday's New Statesman, BBC director-general Mark Thompson said: 'We're talking about a concentration of media power in the UK that's unheard of in British history and unheard of anywhere else in Europe. The combination of that kind of power with ownership of a significant part of the newspapers people read, as well as an internet service provider – this is extraordinary power.'

City commentators believe Mr Murdoch could face difficulties in funding the BSkyB deal.

His original 700p-a-share bid, which  valued the firm at £12.3billion, was rejected by the BSkyB board last year. BSkyB's share price has since soared above 800p.

News Corporation's battered stock price, meanwhile, staged a recovery after the dramatic decision to shut the News of the World.

The conglomerate's value rose by more than 1 per cent to nearly £29billion, having lost £2billion on Wednesday when many major advertisers pulled lucrative ca mpaigns amid the ferocious public backlash to the phone hacking scandal.

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People: Milly Dowler, Simon Hughes, David Kelly, Neil Kinnock, Nick Clegg, Andy Coulson, Gordon Brown, Sienna Miller, Cherie Blair, Andy Gray, Tony Blair, Lance Price, Rupert Murdoch, Matthew Freud, Jeremy Hunt, David Cameron, Mark Thompson, Clive Goodman, Ed Miliband Places: Iraq, Afghanistan, United Kingdom, Europe Organisations: London Police, Scot land Yard, Royal British Legion Print this article Read later Email to a friend

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News of the World phone hacking: Will Rebekah Brooks FINALLY go? 2011-07-08T06:55:00-07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: admin