Not A Good Time To Be David Cameron
The ABC has a fun piece on Cameron’s problems: Cameron in crossfire as Murdoch pressure mounts
British prime minister David Cameron is continuing to defy pressure to launch an investigation into his culture secretary’s alleged links with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
Mr Cameron was called in front of the House of Commons overnight amid Opposition demands for an immediate inquiry into the conduct of culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.
A slew of emails released last week appeared to show Mr Hunt’s office had leaked confidential information to News Corp in the run-up to its failed attempt to take over British pay television operator BSkyB.
And if that wasn’t enough you have the BBC writing about a report just released by a committee in Parliament: Rupert Murdoch ‘not a fit person’ to lead News Corp – MPs
Rupert Murdoch “is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company”, MPs have said.
The culture committee questioned journalists and bosses at the now-closed News of the World, as well as police and lawyers for hacking victims.
Its report has concluded that Mr Murdoch exhibited “wilful blindness” to what was going on in News Corporation.
But the committee was split six to four with Tory members refusing to endorse the report and branding it “partisan”.
…BBC business editor Robert Peston said it would push Ofcom, the media regulator, closer to the conclusion that BSkyB – 39% owned by News Corp – is not fit and proper to hold a broadcasting licence.
BSkyB is the only really profitable operation that News Corp currently owns. If Murdoch has to sell out to prevent BSkyB from losing its license, News Corp will be in worse shape than Greece. Being ‘wonderful, caring people’, investors will be offering pennies for the News Corps shares in BSkyB, and then savage the rest of News Corp.
Cameron is tied all too closely to Murdoch, and the Tories may start looking for a new leader. The problem for the party is that they definitely don’t want an election any time soon, because their poll numbers are in the sub-basement at the moment.
2 comments
Sadly we are lumbered with him for the net couple of years. What is dismaying is that Miliband has been a lackluster leader of the opposition so far
You are being too kind to the leadership of Labour, or things are extremely different in your politics, because with all of the ammunition that Cameron and company have been handing them, they don’t seem to make a dent in him.
Of course, the difference in libel laws probably has a great deal to do with it, because there is no way the US opposition would be as ‘polite’ about what has been going on in the government. The fact that we have regularly scheduled elections rather than the ability to take down a government at any time, may also factor into the reaction on this side of the ‘pond’.