Labour is piling the pressure on David Cameron over Chief Pleb Whip Andrew Mitchell who faces a showdown with senior Conservative MPs who want him to resign before he does lasting “damage” to the party’s reputation.
Read more on Labour launches pleb campaign to pile pressure on Cameron…
The independent has a potentially damaging story this morning, from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, on how lobbying and PR firm Bell Pottinger boasts on camera, whilst being secretly recorded, about its access to the heart of Government as reporters pose as agents for the government of Uzbekistan, a dictatorship known for its human rights abuses.
Today’s story comes after Communities Secretary Eric Pickles was quizzed in the Commons after he was revealed to have had a “‘luxury’ dinner” at the Savoy, which was paid for by Bell Pottinger, which he failed to disclose. The dinner had been made public by Bell Pottinger chairman Peter Bingle. Read more on Bell Pottinger caught boasting how they influence the PM…
Old dear this doesn’t look good. The Mirror is reporting today that the Conservatives used private investigators to check up on the personal lives of supporters they featured in their 2010 General Election campaign.
The paper says a private investigation firm checked up on those who starred in its: “I have never voted Conservative before but…” campaign. The story will raise questions about Andy Coulson’s involvement with the striking similarities to what happened at the News of the World. Read more on Tories used private investigators to check backgrounds of people in election ads…
Highlights today
12:55 – “Gotcha” – Cameron hits back at Labour says Alistair Campbell falsified documents” whilst in government
12:20 – Cameron is asked again about whether discussed BSkyB with News International – doesn’t answer
12:05 – Cameron hits back hard at Miliband tells him to stop hunting for conspiracy theories
11:50 – Cameron says with 20:20 hindsight he would not have hired Andy Coulson and he would have taken the job
11:30 – Enquiry to be wider says David Camerson who is speaking in parliament now – including social media
10:50 – [Video] Piers Morgan calls Tory MP Louise Mensch a coward and “blatant” liar over accusations of phone hacking
09:15 – Staff must be held to account says Murdoch
08:20 – Video – Jon Stewart skewers Murdoch on the Daily Show hearings
08:15 – BR’s Tuesday coverage and the full parliamentary transcript of Tuesday’s News International select committee hearings
08:00 – News International guilty of attempting to “deliberately thwart” original hacking inquiry, says damning report by MPs
16:12 – Rebekah Brooks “Friday” (Rebecca Black Parody)
Things were looking bad for Brooks and now this? It was bad enough auto tuned first time around.
Read more on Latest on the News International hacking scandal #liveblog 11…
17:55 – Sky News is quoting sources saying that the IPCC is investigating Yates for allegedly “inappropriately” giving a job to Neil Wallis’s daughter
This adds to the growing web of links between the Met, NotW and News International.
Read more on Latest on the News International hacking scandal #liveblog 9…
22:00 – Murdoch denies any talk of selling UK newspapers, says damage to company is nothing that will not be recovered
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch has rubbished reports earlier this week that claimed the idea of selling News International, which includes The Sun and The Times, had been discussed by News Corp.
“People close to the company have said the company has considered a separation or sale of its newspaper assets. Mr. Murdoch, who is famously devoted to the newspaper business, called such reports ‘pure rubbish. Pure and total rubbish….give it the strongest possible denial you can give’,” the WSJ reports.
In the interview with the WSJ Murdoch also said that News Corp had handled the crisis “extremely well”; had made only “minor mistakes”; and that the damage to the company was “nothing that will not be recovered”. Read more on Latest on the News International hacking scandal #liveblog 8…
20:30 – 9/11 families call for US probe of Murdoch
US website Politico is reporting that angry family members of victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, as well as some US lawmakers, are calling for a US investigation into allegations that journalists at the News of the World tabloid attempted to hack the phones of their lost love ones.
Read more on Latest on the News International hacking scandal #liveblog 7…
17:30 – As the NotW story becomes a much wider News International story it seems worth revisiting the post earlier today from (14:05) that this scandal could lead to the sell-off or break up of News International.
US media commentator Michael Wolff tweets that Murdoch selling all of News International is being discussed. It would be the nuclear option.
“@MichaelWolffNYC #MURDOCHGATE Get out of Dodge strategy being discussed at News Corp: Sell all of News Int,” Wolff tweets.
A sell-off of News International in UK would see the Murdoch empire say good-bye to newspapers in the UK and focus on BSkyB. That would mean new owners for The Sun, The Times and the Sunday Times. Also for any new Sun on Sunday launch. Read more on Latest on the News of the World #liveblog 5…
Ad magazine Campaign has just published the results of a poll into the greatest poster ads to appear in the UK. There are only two political ads in there. No surprises which of those came top.
Read more on Labour isn’t working one of only two political ads to make Hall of Fame…
You can’t keep a good spin doctor down. Malcolm Tucker taught us this in the Thick of it (or was it Peter Mandelson?). And so it is with Andy Coulson. Just two months after leaving Downing Street under a cloud David Cameron’s communications director is working again.
Read more on Andy Coulson takes on communications consultancy role…
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