Blair Denies Aiding Rupert Murdoch
by PAUL SONNE, online.wsj.comMay 28th 2012 2:27 AM
By
LONDON—Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday told a public inquiry that News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch wielded "substantial power" in Britain that had to be accounted for in devising political strategy and running the government.
Close Former Prime Minister Tony Blair testified Monday before the Leveson inquiry about U.K. press and politics.
The Leveson inquiry—established by the U.K. government last summer to make recommendations about news-media regulation in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal—has been scrutinizing whether News Corp. wielded undue influence on British politicians.
So far, the inquiry has looked primarily at ties between News Corp. and Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's current U.K. government. But on Monday the inquiry turned its attention to Mr. Blair's connections with the media conglomerate and its executives before, during and after his decade as prime minister, from 1997 to 2007.
Mr. Blair made it clear that he viewed the support of Mr. Murdoch and News Corp.'s popular tabloid the Sun as critical to his rise to power and 10-year run at the top of the U.K. government.
"I felt that it really did matter, and I still believe that," Mr. Blair said. He described News Corp. as "probably the most powerful" of the media groups in Britain, but denied aiding the company's interests in exchange for political support from News Corp. papers.
He said, "I don't know a policy that we changed as a result of Rupert Murdoch."
He said he also sought similar support from other major British media outlets.
Mr. Blair denied there was any quid pro quo to secure Mr. Murdoch's favor and said the News Corp. proprietor "didn't lobby me on media stuff." In his written evidence, Mr. Blair gave six examples of times when his government "turned down the positions of the Murdoch media," including the decision to introduce a U.K. broadcast regulator and the move to prevent British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, part owned by News Corp., from buying the soccer team Manchester United.
Mr. Blair described his link to Mr. Murdoch during his time in office as a "working relationship" with "a fairly acute tension at the heart of it."
He suggested they grew closer after Mr. Blair left Downing Street. "Subsequent to leaving office, I would say my relationship is completely different with him and with his family," Mr. Blair said. He became godfather to one of Mr. Murdoch's children in 2010.
After decades of endorsing the Conservative Party, News Corp.'s influential tabloid the Sun threw its support behind Mr. Blair in three consecutive elections, helping his Labour Party wrest power in 1997, win a second landslide victory in 2001 and keep a thin grasp on control in 2005. The Sun switched its support to the Conservatives in 2009, a little more than two years after Mr. Blair had ceded power to Gordon Brown.
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Mr. Blair admitted to mounting a charm offensive to win over News Corp. when he attended a 1995 company conference on Hayman Island, Australia, two years before his election.
"Look, I wouldn't have been going all the way around the world…if it hadn't been a very deliberate and again a very strategic decision that I was going to go and try to persuade them," Mr. Blair said.
He described the "minimum objective" of his trip as "to stop them tearing us to pieces" and the maximum objective as getting News Corp.'s support.
The former prime minister said "the bulk of the conversation was about politics" with Mr. Murdoch. "Europe was a very large part of that, because we had a serious problem, because he had very, very strong views on Europe, and so did I," Mr. Blair said. He generally supported a greater role for Britain in Europe, whereas Mr. Murdoch and the Sun proved more euro-skeptic.
Discussions between Mr. Blair and Mr. Murdoch also included three phone calls in the days before the Iraq war began in 2003. Mr. Blair said the calls lasted no more than 45 minutes in total.
A spokeswoman for News Corp. declined to comment. News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Blair emphasized that he made a purposeful, "strategic decision," from the outset of his tenure as prime minister, to avoid a push for fundamental press reforms in Britain.
"This was not something that I was doing in order to get support from the Murdoch empire," he said. It would have led to an "absolute major confrontation" with "virtually every part of the media against you," Mr. Blair said.
Though Mr. Blair said he didn't "fear" powerful tabloids like the Sun and the Daily Mail, he admitted to heeding the power of their wrath. "Once they're against you, that's it. It's full on, full frontal, day in, day out, basically a lifetime commitment," he said.
Mr. Blair particularly singled out the Daily Mail. He said it was all right for the Daily Mail to advocate against his government, as it did, but he suggested the tabloid crossed the line. "They've attacked me, my family, my children, those people associated with me, day in, day out, not merely when I was in office but subsequent to it as well," Mr. Blair said. "They do it very well, very effectively, and it's very powerful."
A spokesman for the Daily Mail, owned by Daily Mail and General Trust PLC, couldn't be reached for comment.
Mr. Blair's testimony was interrupted by a demonstrator denouncing the former prime minister's handling of the Iraq war. "The man is a war criminal!" the protester yelled, before being dragged out of the room by security guards. Mr. Blair denied the protester's accusations.
Mr. Blair's wife, Cherie Blair, filed suit against News Corp. for illegal voice-mail interception, her lawyer said in February. Her case is among dozens of outstanding civil claims that News Corp. faces related to phone hacking by the News of the World. News Corp. has declined to comment on that case but has said it is cooperating with police investigations into reporting tactics.
—Jeanne Whalen contributed to this article.Shared from Pocket
Victor Cuvo, Attorney at Law
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