He Forgot?

by Bryan

9 comments

1 Kryten42 { 07.22.11 at 7:08 am }

Well! It seems his sister Elizabeth was right about her brother *screwing up*. 😆 And I suspect James is well and truly in the *you-know-what*! Good!

Here’s the latest summary from The Guardian Phone-hacking scandal blog: 21 July 2011

• James Murdoch has been accused of giving incorrect information to the Commons culture select committee hearing on phone hacking. Two former News of the World senior executives claimed the evidence Murdoch gave in relation to a six-figure out-of-court settlement News International made with footballers’ union boss Gordon Taylor was “mistaken”.

The committee chairman announced it would be asking Murdoch to explain the contradiction. James Murdoch has said he stands by what he told the select committee about the Gordon Taylor settlement.

• Sun features editor Matt Nixson has been sacked by News International over his work at the News of the World. The evidence against Nixson was uncovered as part of the internal News International investigation run at Wapping by Will Lewis, the company’s general manager, and Simon Greenberg, the director of corporate affairs.

• Mark Lewis, the lawyer for Milly Dowler’s family, has told the police that he believes he was put under surveillance by News International because of his work representing phone hacking victims. His complaint came after Newsnight reported that three solicitors representing phone hacking victims were themselves targets of the News of the World.

• Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, has written to Gus O’Donnell, the cabinet secretary, asking who made the decision not to seek the highest-level security clearance for Andy Coulson and why. Unlike his predecessors Alastair Campbell, Dave Hill and Michael Ellam, Coulson, David Cameron’s press chief from 2010 to 2011, was only accorded “security check” level clearance rather than the higher “developed vetting”.

• O’Donnell has dismissed concerns that a senior civil servant’s phone was hacked while Andy Coulson was in Downing Street as a “genuine misunderstanding”.

And here is today’s summary (so far):

• US justice department ‘preparing subpoenas’ for News Corp
• Cameron: ‘Questions over James Murdoch testimony’
• Whittingdale calls for clarification from James Murdoch
• James Murdoch could be jailed if he lied to committee
• Bryant calls for Murdochs to be suspended from News Corp
• Who approved Andy Coulson’s vetting? Did civil servants know Coulson was only vetted to mid-level?

The Guardian Phone-hacking scandal blog: 22 July 2011

The bookies are all going insane trying to figure the odds on this whole tangled mess that growing like a rampant tumor! 😆

If, by some miracle, this all ends up even taking down Faux & the rest of News Corp., it will be a great day for the USA, and the World! But, whilst it may well be the end of the Murdoch’s, Roger Ailes is a much tougher SOB to get. And Faux is really Ailes own personal nightmare he dreamed up whilst with Nixon. *shrug* Time will tell… 😉

2 Kryten42 { 07.22.11 at 7:34 am }

Here’s a quick update from Adweek:

Report: Police Have Proof Coulson Knew of Bribes

And Reuters has a calculator with graphs showing the financial impact on News Corp (what they call ‘The Murdoch discount’). 😆

Reuters Breakingviews: The Murdoch discount

3 Bryan { 07.22.11 at 2:12 pm }

Murdoch has about a third of News Corp voting shares, which is enough to control things as long as there is no unified opposition. In the US the law requires corporations to concentrate on profits, and if they don’t shareholders can definitely sue and win. A large block of the shares is owned by institutional investors, and they may decide to either sell out and take their losses [unlikely] or sideline Murdoch, more probable.

Murdoch isn’t doing battle with political wimps anymore, he is about to enter the shark tank of large investment managers. They can not only take control away, but may well take his shares away on a ‘technicality’ that only they know about. It wouldn’t be the first time.

The Murdochs are about to experience ‘interesting times’.

BTW, I would assume that if James is cast into a dungeon, Ofcom will tell News Corp that they are not ‘fit & proper’ and must give up BSkyB.

It is time for James to retire to spend more time with his family … er … lawyers.

4 Kryten42 { 07.23.11 at 12:05 pm }

It’s getting hotter for James. 😀 MP Tom Watson has asked Police to investigate James for Perjury. Coulson is also under investigation for perjury.

Phone hacking: pressure mounts on James Murdoch

I had a good chuckle of this one also. 😀

Andy Coulson vetting saga: damp squib, or dynamite?

…
Coulson’s relatively low “SC” security status is striking only because most No 10 press secretaries of the last 20 years have undergone more rigorous so-called “developed vetting”, which begs the question: why did Coulson receive different treatment?

It’s worth remembering that by May 2010, when Cameron and his PR chief arrived in Downing Street, the Guardian had run 91 articles about illegal activities at the News of the World under Coulson, 14 of them on the front page. Never mind the private warnings passed to Cameron’s staff by Nick Clegg, Paddy Ashdown and the Guardian.

So on the most charitable of readings, the decision to allow him to undergo a lower level of security checking than his predecessors looks on the negligent side of careless. A more conspiratorially minded observer might ask: was Coulson spared the more searching checks because his masters suspected he would not pass them?

A measure of No 10’s sensitivity on the issue was its reluctance on Thursday to disclose whether Coulson’s successor, Craig Oliver, was subjected to so-called “developed vetting”. Eventually it conceded that both Oliver and his deputy were being screened to the higher level. The disclosure heightened the growing perception that a very special exception had been made for Coulson.
…

There is an updated story here:
Andy Coulson was undergoing high-security vetting when he resigned

Curious… 😉 🙂

5 Bryan { 07.23.11 at 3:27 pm }

It is beginning to look like a race to see who goes first – James Murdoch or Cameron.

I can’t imagine that the Conservatives are too thrilled with their leader at the moment and should be looking about for a replacement before there’s a ‘no confidence’ vote and an election is called.

You can hold out in a system like the US, but in a parliamentary system, you have to dump problems quickly. I imagine that Nick Clegg is having interesting conversations with his party about remaining in government.

6 jams o donnell { 07.24.11 at 12:03 pm }

We shall see what happens Bryan. I get the feeling that Clegg will hold on to his ministerial limo for as long as possible. The Lib Dems will be hammered at an election, Clegg himself will probably lose his seat, even though it is quite safe on paper.

7 Bryan { 07.24.11 at 2:07 pm }

The Lib Dems have the most to lose in an early election because of their association with Cameron.

8 jams o donnell { 07.24.11 at 3:34 pm }

They do. Local elections in May saw them lose half of the council seats they held that were up for re-election

9 Bryan { 07.24.11 at 8:00 pm }

You really have to wonder what Clegg was thinking. I really can’t believe that he thought that Cameron would go beyond the actual letter of any agreement, if he went that far.

It is to be hoped that the Liberals get back to work and polish their brand. After Blair they need to do a lot of work.