Report: UK tabloid hacked into voicemails

[seemslikeadream]

Scotland Yard Chief Resigns

By PAUL SONNE And CASSELL BRYAN-LOW

LONDON—Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson resigned on Sunday amid a phone-hacking and police-bribery scandal that has tarnished the police in Britain's capital.

His resignation comes amid a growing uproar in the U.K. over the reporting tactics of News Corp.'s now-closed Sunday tabloid News of the World, which is being investigated by British authorities for allegedly intercepting voice mails and paying bribes to police in pursuit of scoops.

Sir Paul's resignation follows Sunday's arrest of Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International—News Corp.'s U.K. newspaper unit—who stepped down from her post on Friday. She is the most senior executive at News International to be arrested in connection with the scandal.

As of late Sunday, Ms. Brooks remained in police custody and hadn't been charged.

Sir Paul, who has been the most senior official at the Metropolitan Police, or Scotland Yard, since 2009, said he was resigning in particular because of last week's arrest of Neil Wallis, a former News of the World editor who later advised the police on public relations. Mr. Wallis who was arrested on suspicion of intercepting voice mails, was released without being charge

News Corp. CEO and Chairman Rupert Murdoch

"I have taken this decision as a consequence of the ongoing speculation and accusations relating to the Met's links with News International at a senior level," Sir Paul said in a televised statement on Sunday night.

Sir Paul said he first met Mr. Wallis in 2006, when he still worked at News of the World, to discuss policing, as he did with other journalists. In 2009, after Mr. Wallis left the paper, the Met entered into a contractual arrangement with him that ended in 2010. "I played no role in the letting or management of that contract," Sir Paul said on Sunday.

A lawyer for Mr. Wallis declined to comment on the allegations his client faces. News International declined to comment.

Of the phone-hacking investigation, Sir Paul said, "I had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the original investigation into phone hacking in 2006 that successfully led to the conviction and imprisonment of two men. I had no reason to believe this was anything other than a successful investigation."

"I was unaware that there were any other documents in our possession of the nature that have now emerged," he said. He added: "As Commissioner I carry ultimate responsibility for the position we find ourselves in. With hindsight, I wish we had judged some matters involved in this affair differently. I didn't and that's it."

"Let me state clearly, I and the people who know me know that my integrity is completely intact. I may wish we had done some things differently, but I will not lose sleep over my personal integrity."

The police have come under fire from the public and politicians for failing to investigate the phone-hacking issue thoroughly in 2006 and, more recently, for allegedly taking bribes from News of the World. Scotland Yard opened an investigation into the possibility that police officers accepted bribes from the tabloid a week and a half ago.

"They seem to be doing now what they should have been doing two years earlier," said Sara George, a partner in the criminal and regulatory investigations practice at the law firm Stephenson Harwood in London.

News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Ok, throwing my hat in the ring and saying this is going to bring down Murdoch as head of News Corp and the Coalition. Anyone want to bet against me?

It does look like Murdoch will be forced to take "a less active role" in News Corp decisions, mainly because the other big US stakeholders are pissed off at him already. They were tipping his chair over even before all the recent stuff came to light (suing him over using News Corp money to bail out his daughter's business, etc.) but I bet he'll stay on as head of the Coalition for a while yet.

I bet John Yates will go next, though. And Andy Hayman may eventually be arrested for taking cash from NI (allegedly, m'lud) in some way, probably through some complex gift arrangement to a third party or a property deal or suchlike, once the SFO investigation into the pay-outs made by James Murdoch gets underway.

Here's an FOIA request into lunches/dinners/corporate hospitality recieved by Yates and Hayman from News International (covering 2005-2009 in Yates' case, and 2005-2007 in Hayman's):

http://www.met.police.uk/foi/pdfs/discl ... 004079.pdf

Hayman had quite a few lunches and dinners with NOTW, Yates seems to have preferred hanging out with the Times and The Sun. Nothing sinister in itself. Nothing interesting either, come to think of it. Haven't cross-checked the dates with any major events that were happening at the time yet - no noticeable spikes in activity around 7/7, but they wouldn't be that supid anyway, and these were all registered/public meetings.

EDIT: Christ I'm dumb. Just figured out what the above actually means - they were accepting regular hospitality from people/an organisation which their own officers had been/were/would again be investigating for criminal acts. And this was after they knew NOTW journos had tailed Dave Cook during his re-investigation of the Morgan killing.

This is pretty funny:



So's this, but in a very different way.
Fear is gripping Fox, right enough:



EDIT: Please God, let Piers Morgan and Kelvin Mckenzie be embroiled in this and destroyed by it. Richard Littlejohn too, somehow. You know it makes sense, Lord.

Morgan was editor of NOTW when Brooks joined as a secretary. He promoted her at age 20 to Features Editor - straight from the typing pool to running half the paper (though Morgan was only 28 when he became editor himself, I suppose). Still, he must've seen something in her that made such an abrupt and stellar promotion seem reasonable - deviousness, ruthlessness, misanthropy, whatever it is that attracts these people to each other.

From early on, she was known for her creative flair in getting articles and her lack of compunction in how she got them. In 1994, she prepared for The News of the World’s interview with James Hewitt, a paramour of Princess Diana, by reserving a hotel suite and hiring a team to “kit it out with secret tape devices in various flowerpots and cupboards,” Piers Morgan, her former boss and now a CNN talk show host, writes in his memoir “The Insider.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/world ... .html?_r=1

Ah, well, that explains it.

[marycarnival]

Ex-Murdoch aide Brooks arrested; Police chief out
By JILL LAWLESS - Associated Pres

LONDON (AP) — An intensifying voicemail hacking and police bribery scandal cut closer than ever to Rupert Murdoch and Scotland Yard on Sunday with the arrest of the media magnate's former British newspaper chief and the resignation of London's police commissioner.

Though the former executive, Rebekah Brooks, and the police chief, Paul Stephenson, have denied wrongdoing, both developments are ominous not only for Murdoch's News Corp., but for a British power structure that nurtured a cozy relationship with his papers for years.

Brooks, the ultimate social and political insider, dined at Christmas with Prime Minister David Cameron. His Conservative-led government is now facing increasing questions about its relationship with Murdoch's media empire.

The arrest of the 43-year-old Brooks, often described as a surrogate daughter to the 80-year-old Murdoch, brought the British police investigations into the media baron's inner circle for the first time. She was questioned and released on bail some 12 hours later, Scotland Yard announced early Monday.

It raises the possibility that Murdoch's old friend Les Hinton, who resigned Friday as publisher of The Wall Street Journal, or his 38-year-old son and heir apparent, James, could be next.

Until her resignation Friday, Brooks was the defiant chief executive of News International, Murdoch's British newspaper arm, whose News of the World tabloid stands accused of hacking into the phones of celebrities, politicians, other journalists and even murder victims. In the tumultuous last two weeks, she had kept her job even as Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old News of the World and tossed 200 other journalists out of work.

On Sunday she showed up for a prearranged meeting with London police investigating the hacking and was arrested. She questioned on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications — phone hacking — and on suspicion of corruption, which relates to bribing police for information.

Brooks' spokesman, David Wilson, said police contacted her Friday to arrange a meeting and she voluntarily went "to assist with their ongoing investigation." He claimed that Brooks did not know she was going to be arrested.

Hours after Brooks' arrest, Stephenson said he was resigning as commissioner of London's force because of "speculation and accusations" about his links to Neil Wallis, a former News of the World executive editor who was arrested last week in the scandal. Wallis worked for the London police as a part-time PR consultant for a year until September 2010.

Stephenson said he did not make the decision to hire Wallis and had no knowledge of allegations that he was linked to phone hacking, but he wanted his police force to focus on preparing for the 2012 London Olympics instead of wondering about a possible leadership change.

"I had no knowledge of the extent of this disgraceful practice and the repugnant nature of the selection of victims that is now emerging," Stephenson said. "I will not lose any sleep over my personal integrity."

Brooks' arrest was the latest blow for Murdoch, the once all-powerful figure courted by British politicians of all stripes. Now Murdoch is struggling to tame a scandal that has already destroyed News of the World, cost the jobs of Brooks and Hinton and sunk the media baron's dream of taking full control of a lucrative satellite broadcaster, British Sky Broadcasting.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Murdoch "needs to come absolutely clean about what he knew, about what his senior executives knew, and why this culture of industrial-scale corruption — so it is alleged — appeared to have grown up without anyone higher up in the food chain taking any real responsibility for it."

Rupert and James Murdoch are to be grilled by U.K. lawmakers Tuesday over the scandal. Brooks also had agreed to be questioned before a parliamentary committee, but her arrest throws that appearance into doubt.

"Obviously this complicates matter greatly," said Wilson, her spokesman. "Her legal team will have to have discussions with the committee to see whether it would still be appropriate for her to attend."

Lawmaker Adrian Sanders said if Brooks did not appear, "that is not going to go down very well with my fellow committee members."

When Brooks stepped down Friday, she said she was going to "concentrate on correcting the distortions and rebutting the allegations about my record."

She was editor of News of the World between 2000 and 2003, when some of the phone hacking took place, but has always said she did not know it was going on, a claim greeted with skepticism by many who worked there.

At an appearance before U.K. lawmakers in 2003, Brooks admitted that News International had paid police for information. That admission of possible illegal activity went largely unchallenged at the time and lawmakers are keen to ask her about it again.

Police previously arrested nine other people, including several former News of the World reporters and editors, over allegations of hacking and bribery. Those include Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor who became Cameron's communications chief before resigning in January. No one has yet been charged.

Even more senior figures could face arrest, including James Murdoch, chairman of BSkyB and chief executive of his father's European and Asian operations. James Murdoch did not directly oversee the News of the World, but he approved payments to some of the paper's most prominent hacking victims, including 700,000 pounds ($1.1 million) to Professional Footballers' Association chief Gordon Taylor.

James Murdoch said last week that he "did not have a complete picture" when he approved the payouts.

Hinton, too, could face questioning over wrongdoing at the News of the World during his 12 years as executive chairman of News International. But Hinton is an American citizen living in the U.S., so British authorities would have to seek his extradition if he refused to come willingly.

Chandrashekhar Krishnan, executive director of Transparency International UK, said British prosecutors seeking to prove that bribes that were approved at a high level would have to uncover strong evidence such as memos or minutes of a meeting.

"That usually proves to be very, very difficult," he said.

Rupert Murdoch is eager to stop the crisis from spreading to the United States, home of many of his most lucrative assets — including the Fox TV network, 20th Century Fox film studio, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. The FBI has already opened an inquiry into whether 9/11 victims or their families were also hacking targets of News Corp. journalists.

On Sunday, Murdoch took out full-page ads in British newspapers promising that News Corp. would make amends for the phone hacking scandal, with the title "Putting right what's gone wrong." News Corp. vowed there would "be no place to hide" for wrongdoers.

That followed a full-page Murdoch ad Saturday declaring, "We are sorry."

Murdoch's critics say that is not enough. Labour Party leader Ed Miliband said Sunday that Murdoch has "too much power" in Britain and his share of media ownership should be reduced.

Murdoch still owns three national British newspapers — The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times — and a 39-percent share of BSkyB.

At Tuesday's committee hearing, which will be televised, politicians will seek answers about the scale of criminality at the News of the World. The Murdochs will try to avoid incriminating themselves or doing more harm to their business without misleading Parliament, which is a crime.

Police, meanwhile, are under pressure to explain why their original hacking investigation several years ago failed to find enough evidence to prosecute anyone other than News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Detectives reopened the investigation earlier this year and now say they have the names of 3,700 potential victims.

Records show that senior officers had numerous meals and meetings with News International executives in the past few years.

Stephenson, who became police chief in 2009, said he had "no knowledge of, or involvement in, the original investigation into phone hacking in 2006." He said he was "unaware that there were any other documents in our possession of the nature that have now emerged."

[seemslikeadream]

The water is now lapping around the ankles of the Murdoch family


Scotland Yard Leader Quits Over Tabloid Scandal
By SARAH LYALL and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
Published: July 17, 2011

LONDON — Britain’s top police official resigned on Sunday, the latest casualty of the phone-hacking scandal engulfing British public life, just hours after Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, was arrested on suspicion of illegally intercepting phone calls and bribing the police.
Enlarge This Image
Facundo Arrizabalaga/European Pressphoto Agency

The official, Sir Paul Stephenson, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, commonly known as the Met or Scotland Yard, said that he had decided to step down because “the ongoing speculation and accusations relating to the Met’s links with News International at a senior level” had made it difficult for him to do his job.

But he said that he had done nothing wrong and that he would not “lose sleep over my personal integrity.” He also said that because he had not been involved in the original phone-hacking investigation, he had had no idea that Neil Wallis, a former News of the World deputy editor who had become a public-relations consultant for the police after leaving the paper, was himself suspected of phone hacking.

Mr. Wallis, 60, was arrested last Thursday.

The commissioner’s resignation came as the London political establishment was still digesting the stunning news about the arrest of Ms. Brooks — who apparently was surprised herself. A consummate networker who has always been assiduously courted by politicians and whose friends include Prime Minister David Cameron, Ms. Brooks, 43, is the 10th and by far the most powerful person to be arrested so far in the phone-hacking scandal.

Her arrest is bound to be particularly wounding to Mr. Murdoch, who, asked early last week to identify his chief priority in the affair, pointed to Ms. Brooks and said, “This one.”

Ms. Brooks has not yet been formally charged, but it is significant that she is being questioned in connection with two separate investigations. One, called Operation Weeting, is examining allegations of widespread phone hacking at the News of the World, the tabloid at the center of the scandal, where Ms. Brooks was editor from 2000 to 2003. The other is Operation Elveden, which is looking into more serious charges that News International editors paid police officers for information.

Ms. Brooks has always maintained that she was unaware of wrongdoing at The News of the World, which was summarily closed by Mr. Murdoch a week ago in an unsuccessful damage-control exercise. But the tide rose against her, and on Friday she resigned, saying in a written statement that her presence was “detracting attention” from the company.

The arrest was a shock to the News Corporation, the parent company of News International, and the other properties in Mr. Murdoch’s media empire, which is reeling from the traumas of last week: the forced withdrawal of its cherished $12 billion takeover bid for British Sky Broadcasting and the resignations not only of Ms. Brooks but also of Les Hinton, a longtime Murdoch ally and friend who was the chairman of Dow Jones and the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Speaking of Ms. Brooks, an official at News International said: “When she resigned on Friday, we were not aware that she would be arrested by the police.” Another person briefed on the News Corporation’s plans said that on Friday, when the company was preparing to announce her exit and the departure in New York of Mr. Hinton, the possibility of her arrest was not discussed.

Until Ms. Brooks arrived at a London police station by prearranged appointment on Sunday, she believed she would merely be helping the police as a witness, her spokesman said.

“She was very surprised, I think, to then be arrested,” said the spokesman, David Wilson, chairman of the Bell Pottinger public relations firm. Mr. Wilson said it all happened so quickly that both her lawyer and he were brought in to handle her case over the weekend.

Ms. Brooks was arrested “under caution,” he said, meaning that she was read her rights and treated as a suspect. “She maintains her innocence, absolutely,” he said. She was released on bail after about 12 hours in police custody, news services reported.

For months, Ms. Brooks had been willing to talk to the police but had been rebuffed, Mr. Wilson said. “As recently as last week, she was told she wasn’t required to do so and she wasn’t on their radar.”

No formal charges have yet been brought against Ms. Brooks, or indeed against any of the others — mostly former editors and reporters at The News of the World — arrested in the phone-hacking case so far. These include Andy Coulson, who resigned as the paper’s editor in in 2007, was then hired by the Conservative Party, and most recently worked as the chief spokesman for Mr. Cameron’s government. Under British law, suspects can be detained 24 to 36 hours without being charged.

Sir Paul, who took over the top police job in 2009, stepped down in large part because of a furor over his contacts with News International officials. The New York Times reported over the weekend that he met for meals 18 times with News International executives and editors during the phone-hacking investigation, and that other top other police officials had had similar meetings.

These included meeting Mr. Wallis eight times while he was still working at The News of the World. Both Theresa May, the home secretary, and Boris Johnson, the London mayor, said they were angry that he had not disclosed these meetings earlier.

In his statement, Sir Paul explained that he had withheld information about his contacts with Mr. Wallis, even after Mr. Wallis became a phone-hacking suspect, because he “did not want to compromise the prime minister in any way by revealing or discussing a potential suspect who clearly had a close relationship with Mr. Coulson” — Mr. Cameron’s friend and former employee.

“Unlike Mr. Coulson, Mr. Wallis had not resigned from News of the World or, to the best of my knowledge, been in any way associated with the original phone-hacking investigation,” Sir Paul said, in what appeared to be a criticism of the prime minister.

Indeed, Mr. Cameron is in the awkward position of counting two of the arrested parties — Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks — as personal friends. As leader of the opposition, he attended Ms. Brooks’s wedding in 2009 (Rupert Murdoch and Gordon Brown, then the prime minister, of the Labour Party, were also guests).

Mr. Cameron was friendly enough with Ms. Brooks to socialize with her twice in December, according to records released by Downing Street last Friday. Once was at a cozy family dinner at her country house over the Christmas holiday; James Murdoch, Mr. Murdoch’s son and the head of News Corporation’s European and Asian divisions, was also present.

The meetings took place while Mr. Cameron’s government was considering, favorably, the News Corporation’s bid to take over the part of BskyB that it did not already own.

Oddly enough, both Sir Paul and Ms. Brooks were due to give testimony on Tuesday to different Parliamentary committees looking into phone hacking. Keith Vaz, the chairman of the home affairs committee, where Sir Paul was due to be questioned, said that there was no reason the session should not still proceed.

But Ms. Brooks’s appearance, at the committee on culture, media and sport, is now in doubt. Before her arrest, she had warned that because of the investigation, she might be limited in what she could say. Now, it is unclear whether she will come at all.

Although they will still get to question her former bosses, Rupert and James Murdoch, committee members seem disappointed at the prospect of losing Ms. Brooks. Some even said that they wondered if the timing of the arrest was intended to ensure that she was unavailable to answer their questions.

“Being of a suspicious mind, I do find it odd that they should arrest her now by appointment,” said Chris Bryant, a Labour member of the committee, who suspects his phone was hacked by The News of the World. He said that Ms. Brooks’s arrest brings the scandal closer to the top.

“The water is now lapping around the ankles of the Murdoch family,” he said.

Bryant calls for Murdoch arrest

Thursday, 14 July 2011 12:54 PM

By Alex Stevenson

The Murdochs could be arrested by the deputy serjeant-at-arms and brought to the bar of the House, Chris Bryant has proposed.

The shadow minister, one of the most prominent campaigning MPs on the phone-hacking scandal, was concerned by the fact that parliament rises for its lengthy summer recess after Tuesday's sitting.

News International chief executive Rebekak Brooks has agreed to be questioned by the Commons' culture, media and sport committee, but News Corp bosses Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch have declined.

"There is a degree of urgency about this," Mr Bryant told MPs.

"If the Murdochs still refuse to come and say they're not going to come next Tuesday an alternative route would be for him to table an emergency motion to require the serjeant-at-arms to bring the Murdochs to the bar of the House."

"I think I would like to take some advice," Sir George replied, to laughter from MPs, "before I go down that particular route.

"If a witness fails to attend when summoned, the [select] committee reports the matter to the House. It's then for the House to decide what further action to take."

It is far from clear whether MPs would be able to go through the full process for finding a person in contempt of parliament before parliament rises on Tuesday evening.

If Mr Whittingdale's committee feels a contempt of parliament has taken place it can submit a report to the House, Sir George said.

It is then submitted to parliament's standards and privileges committee, which has a wide range of penalties at its disposal - including fines - if its finding of contempt is approved by the broader Commons.

[Stephen Morgan]

Won't bring down the coalition.

Bet you a 10p mix up that it does

Those stakes are too high for my tastes. Also, Brooks, the husband-beating (now former) editrix and CEO has been thrown in the slammer where she belongs.

[stefano]

Still, he must've seen something in her that made such an abrupt and stellar promotion seem reasonable - deviousness, ruthlessness, misanthropy, whatever it is that attracts these people to each other.

I read a good article yesterday in the Sunday Times (no relation to the UK edition). Excerpts:
______________
The muck stops here

Lin Sampson's first job was at News of the World. She is still rubbing off the slime
[...]
"A writer," [an unnamed sub-ed] screamed. "You come here with no experience, and you sit there calmly and tell me you want to be a writer. I can find writers anywhere, in the gutter, lying around on railway stations, in Salvation Army homes, propping up bars all over town. A writer is the last bloody thing we want.

"I want reporters, people who will shimmy up drain pipes, peep into toffs' bedrooms, someone who can down 20 pints in a pub and still keep a story in her head, someone who will sit in a car for a day outside a house, who will crawl through sewerage pipes, who has contacts in the underworld. I'd rather have a bleeding cat burglar than a writer. Who do you think cares about your opinion?

"People want stories about real people, you and I, the man next door, the woman on the Wimbledon bus." He cast about for an example but could only find headlines like: "He said he loved her, then slit her throat."

"Now if you told me your uncle was a duke who had just done in his missus and was having it off with a chorus girl, that would interest me."

As he led me out he said: "A news story, written well, can topple mountains. I am looking for totty, toffs and tragedy, and if you get all three together that's a real triple whammy. There are stories all over the place, right in your backyard."
[...]
The really top reporters were monastic. They lived for their stories, eating leftovers in drab bedsitters, dreaming headlines. Tabloid journalists were not the heroes they are these days, they were shoe-leather guys who batted around town, all capable of shafting their grandmothers for a scoop, suffering from what my aunt called earlybirditude, needing to be first with the news.
[...]
Decades of muck-raking, scandal and depravity had to have an end. It is clear that more papers than the News of the World are involved. Hacking had become common practice.

The crash had to happen, and other papers will follow, but life without tabloids will be dusty. No headlines like "Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster" or stories (my favourite) about the man who made his wife wear a hump so she wouldn't be attractive to other men.

Goodbye and thank you. You might have ruined lives, but you did give us a laugh and manage to put Jeffrey Archer in jail.

[Stephen Morgan]

http://madammiaow.blogspot.com/2011/07/ ... cracy.html

[Stephen Morgan]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... allis.html

Britain's top policeman enjoyed free £12k break at luxury health spa (where PR was ex News of the World boss arrested over phone hacking)

Neil Wallis was PR consultant for Champneys when Sir Paul took free stay
Managing director Stephen Purdew laid on the accommodation
Sir Paul faces a battle to cling onto his job
Mid-range rooms at exclusive resort cost £598 per night

Andy Coulson's deputy Neil Wallis was nicknamed 'Wolfman' because he is short, used to have lots of facial hair and is aggressive.

The 60-year-old suspect has been described as a 'no-nonsense, larger-than-life character whose every utterance is peppered with expletives'.

He stood down as News of the World's executive editor in 2009 and had been working in PR.

He started working for News International in 1986 for 12 years where he held senior positions before taking the job of News Editor at The Sun.

In 1998 he became editor of the People, a job he held for five years before returning to become deputy editor of the News of the World in 2003 working under Andy Coulson.

Wallis led a redesign of the newspaper in 2002 and launched a sports supplement to help in a battle against the Daily Star.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... andal.html

Chipping Norton Set’s final hurrah: How Elisabeth Murdoch threw decadent priory party with Mandelson, Cameron's cronies and BBC's Robert Peston hours before Dowler scandal broke

Veteran Channel 4 presenter Jon Snow enjoyed the Freuds' hospitality at Burford, as did CNN host and Mail on Sunday columnist Piers Morgan, who joked on arriving with wife Celia Walden: 'I've never seen so many people who hate each other together in one room.'

Morgan was joined by actress Helena Bonham Carter, explorer Bear Grylls and TV presenter Mariella Frostrup. After a brief welcome speech, Elisabeth Murdoch invited guests to visit their luxurious private cinema, where the heavyweight boxing match between David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko was being screened.

Ulster-born comedian Patrick Kielty watched the contest with singer Lily Allen, new husband Sam Cooper and Freud. David Tang and Andrew Davies, whose Von Essen Hotels chain went into administration in April, were also there.

Intriguingly, former Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell – a victim of phone-hacking herself – turned up with her estranged husband, lawyer David Mills. Five years ago, the pair announced they had separated when Mr Mills was accused of corruption in an Italian court, a charge later thrown out. Some observers claimed the split was a ploy to distance herself from his problems, something that Ms Jowell denies.

[Byrne]

Morgan was editor of NOTW when Brooks joined as a secretary. He promoted her at age 20 to Features Editor - straight from the typing pool to running half the paper (though Morgan was only 28 when he became editor himself, I suppose). Still, he must've seen something in her that made such an abrupt and stellar promotion seem reasonable - deviousness, ruthlessness, misanthropy, whatever it is that attracts these people to each other.

From early on, she was known for her creative flair in getting articles and her lack of compunction in how she got them. In 1994, she prepared for The News of the World’s interview with James Hewitt, a paramour of Princess Diana, by reserving a hotel suite and hiring a team to “kit it out with secret tape devices in various flowerpots and cupboards,” Piers Morgan, her former boss and now a CNN talk show host, writes in his memoir “The Insider.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/world ... .html?_r=1

Ah, well, that explains it.

Indeed.....well, some of it, at least



If NOTW had gone big on a Harry Hewit story, that would have been a right kick in the nuts for the British establishment/crown.


Back to matters at hand:

MPA STATEMENT: CHAMY MEDIA CONTRACT WITH MPS 14 July 2011 17:10 Metropolitan Police Authority (National)
Metropolitan Police Authority
14/07/11
34/11

Following their meeting this morning, Sir Paul Stephenson has written to the Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority Kit Malthouse to confirm that the MPS contracted Neil Wallis, former executive editor and deputy editor of the News of the World, in September 2009 to provide professional advice on the management of media matters.
This contract terminated in September 2010.
Notes to editors

Jacqui Jones: 020 7202 0217
Michael Upton: 020 7202 0218

Out of hours duty phone: 07769 742 795

Code: Select all

http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=420418&SubjectId=15&DepartmentMode=true

I wonder what was the nature of the media matters that were managed by Neil Wallis/Chamy

[coffin_dodger]

I smell chicanery going on with regards to Rebekah Brooks -

1) She was INFORMED on FRIDAY that she would arrested on SUNDAY. This is highly irregular. Suspects are not informed that they will be arrested in a couple of days - they are usually swooped upon without notice so they can't collude with who needs to be colluded with.

2) Rebekah Brooks is due to appear before a Commons Committee Inquiry this week. I suspect her arrest conveniently means that she can no longer comment - she'll be jeopardising her case now that she's formally been arrested and bailed.

3) slightly different matter - about 3 years ago I told everyone I knew that George Osborne would sooner or later be Prime Minister in the UK - based primarily on the fact that he had attended Bilderberg consistently for the last few years and is one of the lucky 'Bullingdon Club' members. Now, with Cameron on the rocks (he's OUT in my opinion) the Tories are going to be tearing their hair out about Nick Clegg (a guy from the LIB DEMS for god's sake!) being the deputy (and obvious choice to replace Cameroon) Prime Minister. This cannot be allowed to happen.

I suggest the Tories will be pushing the fact that a precedent has been set (with Blair and Brown) that the Chancellor of the Exchequer takes the reigns - good ol' GEORGE OSBORNE.

Watch this space.

[Hammer of Los]

I like the way you think, coffin_dodger. One and two had already occurred to me. Number three sounded interesting.

[gnosticheresy_2]

I smell chicanery going on with regards to Rebekah Brooks -

1) She was INFORMED on FRIDAY that she would arrested on SUNDAY. This is highly irregular. Suspects are not informed that they will be arrested in a couple of days - they are usually swooped upon without notice so they can't collude with who needs to be colluded with.

According to her lawyer, the she thought the appointment was for an interview only and had no idea she was to be arrested. I sincerely doubt this is the case, due to the very convenient timing with respect to her appearance in front of the CMS committee on Tuesday, but I would love for it to be true.

2) Rebekah Brooks is due to appear before a Commons Committee Inquiry this week. I suspect her arrest conveniently means that she can no longer comment - she'll be jeopardising her case now that she's formally been arrested and bailed.

She hasn't been charged with anything yet and judging by comments I've seen from the members of the committee they don't believe she can cite the fact of her arrest in refusing to answer questions.

3) slightly different matter - about 3 years ago I told everyone I knew that George Osborne would sooner or later be Prime Minister in the UK - based primarily on the fact that he had attended Bilderberg consistently for the last few years and is one of the lucky 'Bullingdon Club' members. Now, with Cameron on the rocks (he's OUT in my opinion) the Tories are going to be tearing their hair out about Nick Clegg (a guy from the LIB DEMS for god's sake!) being the deputy (and obvious choice to replace Cameroon) Prime Minister. This cannot be allowed to happen.

I suggest the Tories will be pushing the fact that a precedent has been set (with Blair and Brown) that the Chancellor of the Exchequer takes the reigns - good ol' GEORGE OSBORNE.

Watch this space.

It's an open secret the Georgie boy wants to be PM, you could well be right and he's crowbarred in by the Tories to stop Clegg. However I think this would be rendered academic fairly quickly as I doubt the Coalition would survive a Cameron resignation, and I don't fancy Osborne's chances in a general election, given that he's even closer to NI than Cameron and was one of the people who originally recommended Coulson for the job.

[coffin_dodger]

well, I just put my money where my mouth is - took odds on The William Hill web site of 14/1 that Osborne will be PM by the end of 2011!

[AhabsOtherLeg]

...hiring a team to “kit it out with secret tape devices in various flowerpots and cupboards,” Piers Morgan, her former boss and now a CNN talk show host, writes in his memoir “The Insider.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/world ... .html?_r=1

Ah, well, that explains it.

Indeed.....well, some of it, at least

Actually, come to think of it, it doesn't explain anything at all, since Hewitt would've surely expected to be recorded during an arranged (paid?) interview, so there would've been no need for her to hide microphones around the place, never mind "hiring a team" to do it. A team of what? PIs, I guess. But why not just use NOTW journos to plant the bugs, or if she wanted to keep it secret even from them and claim sole credit, just do it herself?

Possibly it's just Piers Morgan bullshitting to make himself sound interesting in his autobiography. Or they had the suite rigged with cameras and told Hewitt he could use it on NI's tab for as long as he liked. That wouldn't surprise me, after the gift of a phone to Sarah Payne's mum.

If NOTW had gone big on a Harry Hewit story, that would have been a right kick in the nuts for the British establishment/crown.

I remember the day of the Royal Wedding. We were in the pub and my pal said to me: "Charles'll be proud today - his only son getting married off." Took me a minute to work out what he meant.

I'd feel sorry for Harry if (if???!) that's true, though. It's hard enough finding out that your Dad's not your Dad, without your Dad also being first in line to the throne. It could stir up a big constitutional mess in the long run, of a kind not seen for at least a hundred years, but NI were obviously discrete about certain stories if it helped them gain/hold on to power, and/or blackmail the powerful. Woah... I'm talking about NI in the past tense. Feels good.

Hey Stefano, thanks for that article, it turns out she was a real writer after all. Good stuff.

Goodbye and thank you. You might have ruined lives, but you did give us a laugh and manage to put Jeffrey Archer in jail.

I'd forgot about that. Mmmmh. Well... even a stopped clock, etc.

I wonder what was the nature of the media matters that were managed by Neil Wallis/Chamy

Jody McIntyre assault and stuff like that, probably. Generally pretending that the Met aren't shit. It's a hard job but someone's got to do it.

I wonder who his PR predecessor was, during the 7/7 and Menezes years, though. They maybe didn't need one back then, with Hayman and Coulson being so close anyway.

But where's Sir Ian Blair's name in all this, not to mention Sir John Stevens , who actually had a column in the NOTW, reportedly ghost-written for him by "Wolfman" Wallis himself. There's lots of heads still to roll. Even Big Boris could end up on his bike. Jesus, I sound like a Sun hack.

Tessa Jowell ...turned up with her estranged husband, lawyer David Mills.

Best laugh of the day, that was.

... Yates is gone.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

I smell chicanery going on with regards to Rebekah Brooks -

1) She was INFORMED on FRIDAY that she would arrested on SUNDAY. This is highly irregular. Suspects are not informed that they will be arrested in a couple of days - they are usually swooped upon without notice so they can't collude with who needs to be colluded with.

According to her lawyer, the she thought the appointment was for an interview only and had no idea she was to be arrested. I sincerely doubt this is the case, due to the very convenient timing with respect to her appearance in front of the CMS committee on Tuesday, but I would love for it to be true.

Coulson was warned in advance as well, and turned up at the station by appointment. It seems to be quite a common thing - probably more common if you happen to be rich and powerful than if you aren't, of course. Some of the other suspects got the dawn raid treatment.

2) Rebekah Brooks is due to appear before a Commons Committee Inquiry this week. I suspect her arrest conveniently means that she can no longer comment - she'll be jeopardising her case now that she's formally been arrested and bailed.

She hasn't been charged with anything yet and judging by comments I've seen from the members of the committee they don't believe she can cite the fact of her arrest in refusing to answer questions.

The committee have said they're writing up the questions in advance in such a way that she won't be able to use the police investigation as an "I can't comment" shield. This might mean that they'll end up self-restricted in what they ask her about, but they should be able to get the goods if they're clever. Given her last appearance before a select committee, where she straight up admitted paying money to the police with little or no prompting, they might not have to play it too clever anyway.

Since there will eventually be a full judicial inquiry, with all witnesses testifying under oath and without the "protected speech" clause they have for select committees (and she'll obviously be one of those, barring fire or accident) this committee doesn't seem quite as important as it first did. It'll still be great to watch though.

John Whittingdale, who'll be chairing the questioning, is Facebook friends with both Brooks and Hinton though, as well as long-term friends in real life, so I wouldn't get your hopes up too high for Tuesday.