[Omah]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/pe...ional-friends/

Extract :

David Cameron, who has returned from Afghanistan as a profoundly damaged figure, now faces a crisis. The series of disgusting revelations concerning his friends and associates from Rupert Murdoch’s News International has permanently and irrevocably damaged his reputation.

Until now it has been easy to argue that Mr Cameron was properly grounded with a decent set of values. Unfortunately, it is impossible to make that assertion any longer. He has made not one, but a long succession of chronic personal misjudgments.

He should never have employed Andy Coulson, the News of the World editor, as his director of communications. He should never have cultivated Rupert Murdoch. And – the worst mistake of all – he should never have allowed himself to become a close friend of Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of the media giant News International, whose departure from that company in shame and disgrace can only be a matter of time.

We are talking about a pattern of behaviour here. Indeed, it might be better described as a course of action. Mr Cameron allowed himself to be drawn into a social coterie in which no respectable person, let alone a British prime minister, should be seen dead.

It was called the Chipping Norton set, an incestuous collection of louche, affluent, power-hungry and amoral Londoners, located in and around the Prime Minister’s Oxfordshire constituency. Brooks and her husband, the former racing trainer Charlie Brooks, live in a house scarcely a mile from David and Samantha Cameron’s constituency home. The two couples meet frequently, and have continued to do so long after the phone hacking scandal became well known.

PR fixer Matthew Freud, married to Mr Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, is another member of this Chipping Norton set. When Mr Cameron bumped into Freud at Rebekah Brooks’s wedding two years ago, he and Mr Freud greeted each other with exuberant high-fives to signal their exclusive friendship.

The Prime Minister cannot claim in defence that he was naively drawn in to this lethal circle. He was warned – many times. Shortly before the last election he was explicitly told about the company he was keeping.

So what must Mr Cameron do? He must speedily turn his back on Rebekah Brooks. The Labour leader Ed Miliband was right yesterday to call on Mrs Brooks to consider her position at News International.

At the moment, she is putting up the same defence as Mr Coulson when he was Mr Cameron’s senior aide in Downing Street – that she did not know what was going on. Even if we accept this defence – and there is no strong reason to do so because News International has published many falsehoods in this sordid saga – it still does not work. Mrs Brooks, first as editor of the News of the World and the Sun and now as chief executive of News International, was responsible for setting standards. Those standards, as the world now knows, were foul beyond human credibility and she bears much of the blame.

It may well be dangerous for David Cameron to ditch Mrs Brooks. She may have acquired a great deal of information about him and the senior members of his cabinet, both at those quiet Chipping Norton dinners and quite possibly through other, nefarious means. Mrs Brooks is cornered and liable to strike out. But that is a risk the Prime Minister must take.

The truth will out .....

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Omah

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/pe...ional-friends/

Extract :



The truth will out .....

Really strong article, good post.

[Omah]

Originally Posted by joeysteele

Really strong article, good post.

Until this latest expose, I had no idea just how corrupt and self-interested Cameron was/is - now we know that he (metaphorically) sleeps with the (flame-haired) devil .....

[arista]

Originally Posted by Omah

Until this latest expose, I had no idea just how corrupt and self-interested Cameron was/is - now we know that he (metaphorically) sleeps with the (flame-haired) devil .....

And Stinking Labour was.

[Omah]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-...nt_In_Newsroom

The announcement that the News of the World is to close was met with an audible gasp of shock in the newsroom.

Rebekah Brooks and James Murdoch faced a small group of senior management at the tabloid before talking to the rest of the staff.

They were flanked by two security men as they delivered the astonishing news that the newspaper with a history dating back nearly 170 years was to publish its final edition this weekend.

When they made the announcement, the entire office gasped with disbelief, and many staff burst into tears.

Afterwards, editor Colin Myler asked Mrs Brooks to leave the newspaper's offices.

He then addressed the staff himself.

He was shaking and had tears in his eyes because he himself had only been told of the news 20 minutes beforehand.

Staff were left standing around in shock, not knowing what to do or what was going to happen to them.

Mr Myler then went into a meeting with News International staff, after which he planned to take questions from his own colleagues.

Staff members spoke of their fury at the fact Mrs Brooks will be keeping her job while theirs were sacrificed.

The News International chief executive was editor of the NOTW at the time the phone hacking took place.

She has always denied any knowledge of the practice - but the fact remains that many of the current staff were not there at the time.

One staff member told Sky News there was a "lynch mob mentality" towards Mrs Brooks.

"For the sake of one person, 500 people at the NOTW have been sacrificed," he said.

What a b*tch .....

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14073107

Robert Peston

There is a big question for James Murdoch, the chairman of News International, who tonight announced the closure of the News of the World.

Whether he sacrificed a business, and the career prospects of the News of the World's staff, to protect a particularly valued employee: Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International.

Presumably, no-one will think that he did that in a conscious, deliberate way.

But the sharpest critics of the malpractices at the News of the World, such as the Labour leader Ed Miliband, have been calling for her head.

None of those critics, to my knowledge, were demanding that the News of the World should be shut.

So it is at least plausible that if Rebekah Brooks had resigned in the past 24 hours, some of the popular and political fury towards News International and the News of the World would have been assuaged.

She's Daddy's "Little Apple" .....

Beware of the flame-haired devil .....

[joeysteele]

Cameron also made a massive error appointing Andy Coulson after becoming PM.The chickens are coming home to roost,also as to the point of regulating or sorting out the press,while its true Labour should have done so in its 13 years of power, what on earth though did the Conservative party do with 18 years of unbroken rule before that.

Much more relevant and more to the point is what are they going to do now in light of this shocking news that is still coming to light, after now 14 months in power.

[Omah]

Originally Posted by joeysteele

Cameron also made a massive error appointing Andy Coulson after becoming PM.The chickens are coming home to roost,also as to the point of regulating or sorting out the press,while its true Labour should have done so in its 13 years of power, what on earth though did the Conservative party do with 18 years of unbroken rule before that.

Much more relevant and more to the point is what are they going to do now in light of this shocking news that is still coming to light, after now 14 months in power.

Close ranks and soldier on .....

There will, of course, soon be another disaster or crisis for the Tories to mismanage .....

Meanwhile, it's the poor wot get the blame and the rich wot get the pleasure :

See 'im in the House of Commons.
Passing laws to combat crime.
Whilst the victim of 'is passions,
Walks the steets 'midst mud and slime.

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Omah

Close ranks and soldier on .....

There will, of course, soon be another disaster or crisis for the Tories to mismanage .....

Meanwhile, it's the poor wot get the blame and the rich wot get the pleasure :

I do think it's a scandal that could bring down a Govt,this coalition is hated by the majority of voters,in poll after poll it only commands a maximum 45% of support from voters polled.


A lot will depend on the Lib Dems here, if their party does not want to be further tarnished by Cameron being seen to have some sympathy with the Murdoch empire and also not willing to act rapidly to new events being unearthed then the party members of the Lib Dems may demand they leave the coalition.

The Conservative party has no chance of winning an overall majority in an election,this may because of the nature of the scandal be the get out clause the Lib Dems have been waiting for.
If the Lib Dems,largely untouched by the Murdoch empire were to see their fortunes rise in the polls they may well pull out saying a whole new election is needed now.

I never believed this coalition would last 5 years anyway and after this scandal, which will run like the expenses scandal for ages, will I think mean an earlier election rather than a later one.
If the Lib Dems did pull out, Cameron would have to go to the Country,the plan for this parliament to be fixed for 5 years is not as yet through the commons I believe.

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-14082040

A teaching union has called on a Lancashire school, where Rebekah Brooks is a governor, to drop her from plans to hand out end-of year prizes.

The News International chief executive is expected to attend Preston's Fulwood Academy, where she has been a governor since it opened in 2009, on Wednesday.

Lancashire's NUT secretary said Ms Brooks' attendance was "inappropriate" during phone-hacking investigations .

But the school said Ms Brooks' invitation would not be withdrawn.

I hope the stiudents are revolting .....

[arista]

Rebekah Brooks
She is no longer in Charge at the News International clean up.


So thats clever.


SkyNewsHD

[arista]

A. Coulson is out on Bail
due to return in Oct.



SkyNewsHD

[arista]

A. Coulson is out on Bail
due to return in Oct.



SkyNewsHD

[joeysteele]

On bail until October, the Police have a massive amount to look at then, leaving it that long.
I was surprised and thought it maybe revealing Coulson didn't say he was going to fight the allegations and clear his name only just saying he couldn't say anything.

It looks like it's going to be a really big one.

[arista]

[joeysteele]

As for Murdoch flying in today to the UK, he should be sent straight out again.

[Omah]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1Rh4pQ4pL

David Cameron and News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks are at the heart of what has become known as the ‘Chipping Norton Set’.
It is made up of powerful political and media figures who have homes in a tiny triangle in one of the most scenic parts of England – the Cotswolds. The group go to the same house parties, dine together and even ride together.

As recently as last Christmas, the Camerons went to the home Mrs Brooks shares with her second husband, Old Etonian Charlie Brooks, for a festive lunch with her boss, James Murdoch.
The meal took place just days after Mr Cameron stripped Business Secretary Vince Cable, an avowed enemy of Rupert Murdoch, of his power to decide on Mr Murdoch’s attempt to take full control of BSkyB. Responsibility was handed to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, an unabashed fan of the media mogul.

The Brookses, who married in June 2009, live in a sprawling property in Chipping Norton, barely a mile from David Cameron’s £750,000 constituency home in Dean, near Charlbury.
At the wedding, held on the Brooks estate, Mr Cameron – who has gone riding in the local countryside with Mrs Brooks – exchanged a ‘high-five’ greeting with PR fixer Matthew Freud.
Freud – married to Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, who recently sold her TV company Shine to News Corp – lives 15 miles away in the £5 million 22-bedroom Burford Priory, set in 15 acres.

Freud is the ultimate networker, whose clients benefit from his proximity to power. His company, Freud Communications, has pocketed hundreds of thousands of pounds in fees from the Coalition since the Election.
By far the most lavish parties in the Chipping Norton set are thrown by the Freuds. The most spectacular in recent years was Elisabeth Murdoch’s 40th birthday, held at the priory in October 2008. Tory guests included the Camerons, Chancellor George Osborne and wife Frances, and Andy Coulson. The Labour elite turned out, too. Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson, David Miliband, Tessa Jowell and Labour pollster Philip Gould and his publisher wife Gail Rebuck were all there.

In the summer of 2008, the Camerons were flown in Freud’s private plane, a Gulfstream IV, to meet Rupert Murdoch on his yacht, Rosehearty, off the Greek island of Santorini. Also on board were singer Billy Joel and Mr and Mrs Brooks. The Freuds’ yacht, the Elisabeth F, was moored nearby.
Afterwards, Cameron was flown on to Turkey in the jet for a family holiday. The two vessels then sailed on to Corfu where the Freud-Murdoch party enjoyed a dinner at Rothschild’s holiday home on the island.

They're in each other's pockets .....

Perhaps they swap wives .....

[Omah]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1RphW3qbs

Gordon Brown has been left 'shocked' by the way his family's personal details have been obtained through alleged 'criminality' and 'unethical means', his office said tonight.It has been claimed the former prime minister was targeted by The Sun and the Sunday Times.The two newspapers allegedly accessed details from his legal file, his Abbey National bank account and his baby son's medical records.

Mr Brown's spokeswoman said: 'Gordon Brown has now been informed of the scale of intrusion into his family's life. The family has been shocked by the level of criminality and the unethical means by which personal details have been obtained. The matter is in police hands. The police have confirmed Mr Brown is on Glenn Mulcaire's list. And some time ago Mr Brown passed all relevant evidence he had to the police.'

A former aide to Mr Brown questioned how The Sun, when News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was editor, obtained details of his son Fraser's cystic fibrosis. David Muir, one of Mr Brown's most senior advisers at No 10, said: 'They were contacted by Rebekah Brooks, who told them that they had information that Fraser had cystic fibrosis, which was a matter that they, the family, were just getting their heads around at the time and dealing with. They didn't know how Rebekah came across this information and now, what's come to light, it was obtained by what appeared to be illegal methods.'

Well, if that ain't complicity in a crime, I don't know what is .....

Will she escape charges yet again .....

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14166004

News International's Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks has resigned, issuing the following statement:

"At News International we pride ourselves on setting the news agenda for the right reasons. Today we are leading the news for the wrong ones.

The reputation of the company we love so much, as well as the press freedoms we value so highly, are all at risk.

As Chief Executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place.

I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate.

This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past.

Therefore I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted.

Rupert's wisdom, kindness and incisive advice has guided me throughout my career and James is an inspirational leader who has shown me great loyalty and friendship.

I would like to thank them both for their support.

I have worked here for 22 years and I know it to be part of the finest media company in the world.

News International is full of talented, professional and honourable people. I am proud to have been part of the team and lucky to know so many brilliant journalists and media executives.

I leave with the happiest of memories and an abundance of friends.

As you can imagine recent times have been tough. I now need to concentrate on correcting the distortions and rebutting the allegations about my record as a journalist, an editor and executive.

My resignation makes it possible for me to have the freedom and the time to give my full cooperation to all the current and future inquiries, the police investigations and the CMS appearance.

I am so grateful for all the messages of support. I have nothing but overwhelming respect for you and our millions of readers.

I wish every one of you all the best.

Rebekah"

Good Riddance .....

[Marc]

She's quit.

Interesting...

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14166627

"Earlier today, Rebekah Brooks resigned from her position as CEO. I understand her decision and I want to thank her for her 22 years of service to the company.

She has been one of the outstanding editors of her generation and she can be proud of many accomplishments as an executive.

We support her as she takes this step to clear her name."

"Now, what's for lunch?"

[joeysteele]

Absolutely,good riddance, and so much for her being the 'priority' of Rupert Murdoch.

They know there is loads of very nasty times ahead on this,she has so many questions to answer. Hopefully the venom now turns on James Murdoch, there must be a fair few doubts hanging over him on this now too.

[Omah]

as News International slaps gagging orders on chief executives (apart from that inquiry on Tuesday)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1SHbQ8Hhw

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was given a seven-figure severance package after resigning, it has emerged.

Senior colleagues have estimated the pay off, handed out five days after the final edition of the News of the World she used to edit, to be around £3.5million.

The final editor of the paper, Colin Myler, is believed to be in line for a £2million pay-off and two of the company's senior lawyers - Jon Chapman and Tom Crone - will both get around £1.5million, the Independent reported.

Les Hinton, chief executive of Dow Jones which publishes the Wall Street Journal, also resigned last night and is likely to receive a hefty sum.

The financial settlements will include gagging orders to stop executives discussing company matters outside of any public inquiries or criminal proceedings.

Pay up to shut up ..... the rich get richer .....

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14178051

The 43-year-old was arrested by appointment at a London police station and remains in custody.

She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption.

She quit News International on Friday as pressure mounted over her role in the deepening scandal.

Mrs Brooks was editor of the paper between 2000 and 2003, during which time the phone belonging to murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was tampered with.

BBC Business Editor Robert Peston said News International was not aware that Mrs Brooks would be arrested when her resignation was being discussed at the company on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. She eventually resigned on Friday.

Mr Peston added: "It's certainly the most extraordinary development. Rebekah Brooks is incredibly close to the most powerful people in the UK - the current prime minister, the previous prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. More or less every senior person of influence within Britain."

He said it could now potentially jeopardise her appearance at the Parliamentary Select Committee on Tuesday, where she is due to answer MPs questions on the hacking scandal.

"I would assume having been arrested it's now almost impossible for her to appear. It's very difficult for MPs to ask her questions that wouldn't be seen to be impinging on the police investigation."

Mrs Brooks's arrest is the tenth made by Operation Weeting police, who are conducting the current investigation into phone hacking.

Those arrested and bailed by police as part of the new investigation have included ex-NoW editor Andy Coulson, ex-NoW assistant editor Ian Edmondson, ex-NoW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, senior ex-NoW journalist James Weatherup, freelance journalist Terenia Taras, Press Association journalist Laura Elston, an unnamed 63-year-old man, and ex-NoW royal editor Clive Goodman.

Officers from Operation Elveden were also involved with this latest arrest. They are investigating allegations of inappropriate payments to police, an inquiry which is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

A spokesman for Mrs Brooks says the Met police notified her on Friday, after her resignation had been agreed, that she would be arrested.

He also said her arrest would make her appearance at the committee "pretty tricky" and that said she had been offering to speak to police on voluntary basis since January, so she was "very surprised" to learn she would be arrested.

Her former boss, News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, and his son James Murdoch, chairman of News International, are also due to appear before MPs.
Grave situation

Media analyst Steve Hewlett says the timing of these latest events may have been an attempt to limit the damage done to News International.

"To have a very senior executive of the company arrested would have been rather worse than having a very senior former executive of the company, albeit only just," he said.

"If that's correct, then it may even be that even the latest move by News Corporation to kind of stem the tide - with the resignations of Les Hinton in America and Rebekah Brooks - even that may have been forced on them by events beyond their control.

"Which would raise yet further questions about whether News Corporation have even now really understood and accepted the gravity of the situation that they're facing."

Will she get a pot to piss in ?

[joeysteele]

Oh well, as expected,she will now be able to really not answer anything at the select committee on Tuesday.
If she cannot answer though, that could be an indication of how deep in she is herself in this scandal and a sign of all the really bad stuff yet to be made known.