The Official Newscorp/UK end of season finale/Rebekah Brooks did 9/11 thread

@BBCMichaelCrick Gordon Brown was so keen on judicial inquiry into hacking that it was even an item in May 2010 Lab Lib Dem Coalition negotiations

Serve it cold, Gordon...

David Cameron tried his best to look interested during a lengthy business Q&A just now at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange; but his mind is undoubtedly elsewhere, several thousand miles to the north, where the phone hacking saga is yielding new twists and turns by the hour.

But he looked a bit more alert when Jason Groves of the Daily Mail – alluding to Ed Miliband’s comments this morning – asked whether he was considering his position as prime minister.

The answer was rather rambling and gave neither a negative or affirmative. Cameron must realise that “prime minister refuses to quit” would be a gift for the press.

James Chapman, the Mail’s political editor, has pointed out that the odds of David Cameron quitting the cabinet first are now (at 12-1) shorter than those of Caroline Spelman (at 16-1).

hahaha

ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

spelman of the forest-selling, lest we forget

More from Cameron's ramble:

The British Government, in terms of this phone-hacking scandal, has taken all of the appropriate action. ...
I feel I have been out there in Parliament and in press conferences, fully answering the questions, fully transparent, very clear about what needs to be done, making sure that Britain gets to the bottom of what has been a terrible episode in terms of what newspapers have done, hacking into private data, and also some very big questions about potential police corruption - we need to get to the bottom of those.
I've said very clearly as a politician that the relationship between politicians and media hasn't been right.
The music has stopped on my watch and I am determined to get to the bottom of it to make sure we have a better relationship in the future and to put these things right.

I’m going to make a big statement...

Because I'm a big statesman. No, really I am.

yates has resigned, sez twitter

so jaded that i can barely muster a shrug, our sights are surely on bigger fish now

"He's so nervous, avoiding all the questions"

BBC:

BREAKING NEWS:Met Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates resigns amid criticism of his investigation into phone hacking

I've said very clearly as a politician that the relationship between politicians and media hasn't been right...in fact I was only saying that to Rebekah the other day, but she told me to stop being such a worrier and once they got Rusbridger on his knees it would all be fine...

Scotland Yard's Assistant Commissioner John Yates says he's done "nothing wrong", amid speculation he could be suspended over the phone-hacking scandal. He tells reporters who ask if his position is untenable: "Give me a break. I resign"

fixed

How many resignations from people who have done absolutely nothing wrong are we on now?

It's the old get-out, used oft in the past, see Dame Shirley Porter or Jeffrey Archer:

"I have done nothing wrong" which is a matter of (someone's) opinion,

vs

"I have done nothing illegal" which is something that can be established.

Wonder if Cressida Dick will still be thinking about Jean Charles de Menezes "every day" in her new role?

great opportunity for a bonnie langford comeback here

this was a quality lol

this hacking scandal has caused such a distraction to my work that i am also resigning today

fry and laurie sketch on rubert murdoch from 1995 -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clips/p00j5rz8/a_bit_of_fry_and_laurie_its_a_soaraway_life_the_rupert_murdoch_sketch/

uh ruPert

this hacking scandal has caused such a distraction to my work that i am also resigning today

Yes, I'm finding it really hard to concentrate today!

no we have to get work done today because tomorrow it'll be impossible what with the select committee and all

Are we getting called up, or just cited?

Don't think anyone could blame me for finding "Hostile & Generous Toleration (A New Theory of Toleration)" by George Jacob Holyoake not exactly riveting

Imagine the Manic Street Preachers are reading it alongside you.

xp

wd read tbh

Things are looking up, I'm on to "Life and Death (Part I. - Death)"

No spoilers.

Wait, part I?

part 1?
xp

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01949/boris_1949319c.jpg

Part II is yr phone gets hacked.

lol

Part III is You're Fired.

14.54 Boris Johnson appears to have lost his temper at a question from Jon Snow, answers in raised voice. Starting to look more flustered than usual; fiddles with his tie. And to another question - "Come on, be fair".

Finally, challenged again on dismissing hacking as codswallop, says: "I misunderstood the severity of the allegations." Blames poor information he was given.

This guy.

"Come on, be fair" shd be the Tory campaign slogan for 2012.

2.58pm: You just effectively sacked two of the most senior officers in London, the mayor is told.

"Yeah ... That's not an operational matter," Johnson says. And with that the press conference is over.

Jon Snow?

... and Part II is......... Life! They got that one arse over tit there.

xpost -- is this the real life, is this just fantasy, etc.

A sick masochistic part of me wants to turn on Fox News today.

Why are you bored of the scandal? You wpn't find it reported there.

ha, true. Just thought Doocey might do some more spinning, but Fox & Friends is already over today.

Death is four pages longer than Life :(

Thankfully it's mostly footnotes.

Meantime I note Sullivan's back blogging and has things to say, thus here and here. I admit to being amused:

I've lived in America for twenty-five years, and yet I can come home as a native son and personally knew at college the current Mayor of London (an Oxford Union successor), the Foreign Secretary (an Oxford Union predecessor), the editor of the Economist (Magdalen history), and from Reigate Grammar School, the director of strategy at Number 10, the director of public prosecutions and, last but not least, Fatboy Slim.

Death is four pages longer than Life :(

― R. Stornoway (Tom D.), Monday, 18 July 2011 15:26 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Thankfully it's mostly footnotes.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 18 July 2011 15:27 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/150571/150571,1247024235,1/stock-photo-human-feet-with-toe-tag-bar-code-33300391.jpg

I love how this reads:

15.40 Theresa May says the Met is stronger today than when Sir Paul Stephenson took over. She has agreed he should leave "as swiftly as possible".

News America was led by Paul V. Carlucci [who engaged in unethical and illegal practices that eventually forced settlements exceeding $500 million], who, according to Forbes, used to show the sales staff the scene in “The Untouchables” in which Al Capone beats a man to death with a baseball bat. Mr. Emmel testified that Mr. Carlucci was clear about the guiding corporate philosophy.

According to Mr. Emmel’s testimony, Mr. Carlucci said that if there were employees uncomfortable with the company’s philosophy — “bed-wetting liberals in particular was the description he used” Mr. Emmel testified — then he could arrange to have those employees “outplaced from the company.”

…

So what became of him? Mr. Carlucci, as it happens, became the publisher of The New York Post in 2005 and continues to serve as head of News America, which doesn’t exactly square with Mr. Murdoch’s recently stated desire to “absolutely establish our integrity in the eyes of the public.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/business/media/for-news-corporation-troubles-that-money-cant-dispel.html

The Guardian's fault for the typo but even so:

May concludes by saying that many Met officers serve the public bravely. An officer was short in the course of his duties only three days ago. It is for their sake that these inquiries need to be successful.

Now, since ‘News International Associated Services’ is a News International subsidiary based in Wapping, it’s fairly clear that the GLA has paid a Murdoch company several thousand pounds for something, reasonably regularly, during 2009/2010.

Around that time, we know that the now defunct Murdoch freesheet The London Paper was running advertorials for Boris’s shiny new Story of London festival:

Publicity for the Story of London Festival was mainly through the GLA website, poster campaign and pamphlet supported by articles in the ‘londonpaper’.

Yes, if you close down your ‘Pyong-Yang style freesheet’ you effectively end up paying, well, Rupert Murdoch to print your PR.

4.23pm: PoliticalBetting is taking the prospect of David Cameron quitting quite seriously, reports Paul Owen.

The website's respected guru Mike Smithson reports that Ladbrokes has tightened the price on Cameron's being the next cabinet member to quit the government from 100/1 ten days ago to 12/1 now. Stan James offers 7/1 against Cameron not lasting the year.

Of the frontrunners to replace Cameron, David Davis represents "outstanding value" at 33/1, and Smithson has put some money down. Boris Johnson is top of the heap at 4/1, despite his not being an MP. Paul's own tip to replace Cameron would be William Hague, whose reputation and image as a statesman have steadily and markedly improved since he was last Tory leader – give or take a few embarrassing stories about his sleeping arrangements.

Ugh, Boris.