[guide.chat] camerons texts in court
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2012 08:28:45 +0100
Murdoch's UK chief told Cameron "we're in this together"
Cameron testifies over Murdoch links
(Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper chief told David Cameron the night
before a crucial political speech in 2009 that they were "professionally in
this together", an inquiry revealed on Thursday, embarrassing the man who now
governs Britain.
A text message to Cameron, then in opposition, from Rebekah Brooks, then the
head of Murdoch's British newspapers, was read out to the prime minister on
live television during a grilling about his ties to the tycoon's News Corp.
"I am so rooting for you tomorrow not just as a personal friend but because
professionally we're definitely in this together. Speech of your life? Yes he
Cam!" Brooks told Cameron in that message the night before his speech to the
Conservative Party's annual conference.
Testifying under oath at the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics, Cameron said
Brooks had merely meant that they had a common interest because her Sun
newspaper had come out in support of the Conservative Party ahead of the 2010
election.
But the message makes excruciating reading for Cameron as "We're all in this
together" was the Conservatives' campaign slogan for that election. It was
meant to present the party as inclusive and caring, but the Brooks message
instead reinforces the perception of a party in thrall to a powerful media
clique.
"Yes he Cam" was the Sun's headline the day after he made the 2009 speech,
suggesting Brooks had decided how the newspaper would react to the speech
before it was made.
Brooks quit her News Corp job last year over phone-hacking by reporters on her
watch and has since been charged with perverting the course of justice for
allegedly hiding evidence.
"WITCHCRAFT TRIALS"
Cameron ordered the Leveson Inquiry last year at a time when he was under
pressure to crack down on Murdoch's papers because of the revelation that
reporters at the News of the World tabloid had hacked into the phone of a
murdered schoolgirl.
But if Cameron had hoped the inquiry might neuter the hacking scandal, it has
done the opposite by producing evidence that has raised doubts about his own
judgment and caused a rift with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners.
These problems have absorbed his time and energy at a time when he is also
grappling with a recession, unpopular public spending cuts and the euro zone
crisis. On Thursday, he spent five hours answering questions at Leveson.
The inquiry has shown generations of politicians from both of Britain's main
parties, Labour and the Conservatives, have fawned over Murdoch and people
close to him.
Cameron used to sign his frequent text messages to Brooks with an affectionate
"LOL", which he thought stood for "lots of love", according to Brooks's own
testimony at Leveson, but his two Labour predecessors courted her just as
assiduously.
Tony Blair had several private dinners with her and sent her friendly text
messages, while during Gordon Brown's time as prime minister, his wife Sarah
invited Brooks to "sleepover parties" at Brown's official weekend retreat.
Cameron repeatedly pointed the finger at Labour during his testimony. He
dismissed as a "conspiracy theory" an accusation by Brown that the
Conservatives had discreetly championed Murdoch's interests in return for
support from his newspapers.
"Not only was there no covert deal, there was no overt deal, and there wasn't
'nods and winks'," Cameron said, jabbing his hand forward to emphasize the
point.
He rejected the suggestion that while there may have been no explicit deal,
there was an unspoken and mutually beneficial agreement between his party and
the Murdoch press.
"We do slightly get into sort of witchcraft trials. How do you possibly prove
that you're innocent on that basis?" he said.
WEEKENDS IN THE COUNTRY
Cameron spoke fluently but looked tense at the inquiry. He frowned in
concentration as he listened to questions from lawyer Robert Jay, in contrast
to his usually relaxed manner.
But his efforts were undermined when Jay read out the 2009 text message from
Brooks, which referred to a problem Cameron had at the time with another
Murdoch paper and suggested that he and Brooks should discuss the matter "over
country supper".
The phrase is embarrassing for Cameron, who used to socialize with Brooks and
other rich and powerful people connected to Murdoch during weekends at their
respective mansions in a picturesque corner of the Oxfordshire countryside.
Cameron squirmed as Jay pressed him to say how often he used to meet up with
Brooks in the country.
"Not every weekend ... I'd have to check. I might be able to go back and check.
But I don't think every weekend. I don't think most weekends. But it would
depend."
For British voters, talk of meetings "over country supper" only reinforces
Cameron's image as a man of wealth and privilege who has little understanding
of ordinary people's lives - an image he has tried hard to counteract,
downplaying his elite upbringing at Eton, an expensive boarding school.
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Vanessa The Google Girl.
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