News Corp - Diplomatic Immunity?

A new piece from my regular contributor:

A key deadline has just passed for new claimants in Hackgate litigation. A few 'Lead Cases' may be selected for first hearings tranche - to establish some common case principles - whilst others may choose to settle their claims with News International/News Group Newspapers (NGN) before their cases are due to come to court c. May 2013.  New case-management rules have now been advised which affect allegations over and above phone-hacking alone (Carter-Ruck):

A prerequisite to joining the Claimant Group is that the claim against NGN must be for a breach of privacy/confidence and/or harassment and/or a breach of the Data Protection Act. The claim does not, however, have to include phone hacking, but may involve a claim for computer hacking or “any other investigative method” (such as surveillance) carried out by NGN.... the vast majority of the claims to date and those in the new Claimant Group relate to phone hacking by the News of the World. However, there may well be claims emerging in the future that allege phone or computer hacking by The Sun, a separate NGN title. In an important decision, Mr Justice Vos ordered that cases against The Sun would also fall within the new Claimant Group. How this will work in practice will be interesting to see as NGN has now admitted many of the phone hacking allegations made against the News of the World but not in respect of The Sun. Claims against The Sun are therefore likely to be more contentious and may not fit neatly into the scheme of the litigation and so Mr Justice Vos has provided a mechanism whereby Claimants with claims which are only against The Sun may ask him for specific directions on how their case should be handled.

It is of course well known that victims include politicians.  Some have settled with NGN already, others are amongst new claimants, and a few have opted not to take any action.  Their names have trickled out into the public domain.  And that in itself is problematic. Their very names invoke our subjective responses, dependent on our likes and dislikes ot them individually or their party affiliations - focusing on WHO induces our gut feelings.  A different emphasis is revealed by looking at WHAT rather than who - what roles, what functions, what Offices of State etc were targeted during the relevant time period.
Looked at from this perspective, it's audacious. It's breathtaking. It's shocking.

a)  Peter Hain, MP (Lab), Leader of House of Commons, Secretary of State fro Northern Ireland, Secretary of State for Wales, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, junior minister Foreign and Commonwealth Office, candidate for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party

b)  John Prescott, MP (Lab), Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions, candidate for Leader of the Labour Party

c)  Peter Mandelson, MP (Lab), European Commissioner for Trade, Minister without Portfolio, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

d)  Claire Ward, MP (Lab), Member of Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport

e)  Gordon Brown, MP (Lab), Prime Minister, Cabinet Member, Chancellor of the Exchequer

f)  Chris Bryant, MP (Lab), Minister for Europe, Parliamentary under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, member Home Affairs Select Committee

g)  Tom Watson, MP (Lab), Deputy Chair of Labour Party, Assistant Government Whip, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Minister of Defence, member Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee

h)  Tessa Jowell, MP (Lab), Minister of State Department of Health, Minister of Health Department of Education and Employment, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Paymaster General, Minister for London, Minister for the Cabinet Office

i)  Neil Kinnock, MP (Lab) Leader of the Labour Party, Leader of the Opposition, European Commissioner, Vice-President of the European Commission, Chairman of the British Council

j)  Glenys Kinnock, MEP (Lab) Member of European Council for Foreign Relations, Minister for Europe, Minister of State for Africa and the Unkted Nations

k)  Stephen Byers, MP (Lab), Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, member of Home Affairs Select Committee, Whips Office

l)  David Blunkett, MP (Lab), Secretary for Education and Employment, Home Secretary, Secretary for Work and Pensions.  (Specifically named in Operation Weeting phone hacking charges)

m)  Charles Clarke, MP (Lab), junior Education minister, Minister of State for Education, Home Secretary.  (Specifically named in Operation Weeting phone hacking charges)

n)  Mark Oaten, MP (Lib Dem), Home Affairs spokesperson, candidate for Leader of Liberal Democrat Party

o)  Nigel Farage MEP, (UKIP), Party Leader

p)  Tommy Sheridan co-Convener (Solidarity Scotland), Holyrood MSP candidate, candidate for European Parliament

q)  Martin Salter, MP (Lab), member of Select Committee on Northern Ireland, member of Home Affairs Select Committee, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Schools Minister,

r)  Denis McShane, MP (Lab), junior Minister for Foreign Office, Minister for Europe

s)  George Galloway, MP (Respect), MP (Lab), Holyrood MSP candidate,

t)  Jack McConnell, MSP (Lab), First Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs,  Prime Minister's Special Representative for Conflict Resolutions Mechanisms

u)  Boris Johnson MP (Con), Shadow Minister for the Arts, Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, Mayor of London

v)  Simon Hughes, MP (Lib Dem), Deputy Leader of Liberal Democrat Party, President of Liberal Democrats, candidate for Mayor of London, candidate for Leader of Liberal Democrat Party

w)  Nick Brown, MP (Lab), Chief Whip, Agriculture Minister

x)  Joan McAlpine, MSP (SNP) Parliamentary Aide to First Minister Alex Salmond, member Scottish Parliamentary Committee for Education and Culture

y)  Alex Salmond, MSP, First Minister, formerly SNP MP for Banff and Buchan, (does not confirm or deny that his phone was hacked)

Clearly, the majority of politician victims are Labour and allegedly subject to a variety of illegalities - phone hacking, blagging, computer hacking, burglary. The range of political office holders is remarkable, and includes one Prime Minister and two Scottish First Ministers.  Of course these are just the national politicians. The list does not include others who could also be deemed 'political' eg Alistair Campbell, Cherie Blair, political opponents and defenders of Tommy Sheridan or union leaders such as the late Sir Gavin Laird, Andy Gilchrist and Bob Crowe.

If another nation state had targeted the democratic functioning of the UK in the same way - rather than News Corporation - there would be calls for a United Nations Security Council resolution on sanctions, and their diplomats would be deported.

But we'd best leave it there - for one thing, we're running out of alphabet...

Related Articles
Alex Marunchak - Presumed Innocent
The Milly Dowler Hacking - Part 1: Questions Still Unanswered
Operation Tuleta - A Second Look
Some Intriguing Hackgate "Known Unknowns"
Alastair Morgan On The Latest Hackgate Revelations

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

Did Rupert Murdoch Lie To Leveson About Gordon Brown?

Norman Smith of the BBC has just tweeted the following information he received from the cabinet office regarding claims made by Gordon Brown at the Leveson Inquiry:

Cabinet Office -We confirm there is a record of only 1 call between Mr Brown and Rupert Murdoch in year to March 2010 on 10th of Nov 2009

Cabinet Office say Nov 2009 phone call between Gordon Brown and Rupert Murdoch followed by email referring to discussion on Afghanistan

Gordon Brown's spokeswoman on Cab Off statement on call with Rupert Murdoch :"This statement confirms Mr Brown's evidence to the Inquiry"

Gordon Brown office say Rupert Murdoch has been unable to provide any evidence of alleged "declaration of war" phone call in Sept 2009

As the Guardian reported on Monday Brown "insisted" he did not make an unbalanced and threatening phone call to Rupert Murdoch in 2009, as claimed by Rupert Murdoch during his Leveson appearance in April:

The former prime minister released Downing Street phone records to the inquiry on Monday to show that he had spoken to Murdoch on 10 November of that year at 12.33pm. Brown said that the two had spoken about the war in Afghanistan.

During his April appearance Rupert Murdoch claimed Brown had called him in September 2009 during which Brown threatened Rupert Murdoch and acted in an unbalanced way.

Today's new information seems to suggest that Rupert Murdoch was wrong to make those claims, and as yet he and News Corp have been unable to produce any evidence of those claims, so the question is; did Rupert Murdoch lie to the Leveson Inquiry?

Update - Here's the question Rupert Murdoch was asked at Leveson and how he replied:

Q. May I just deal with one piece of evidence the Inquiry received from Mr MacKenzie. Mr MacKenzie told us that Mr Brown spoke to you on the phone, this was on or shortly after 30 September 2009 and he, Mr Brown, is said to have roared at you for 20 minutes. Is that true or not?

A. I am afraid that -- I'm very happy to tell you about the conversation, but Mr MacKenzie, who I might have talked to about it over dinner, I occasionally see him -- that was a very colourful exaggeration. Mr Brown did call me and said, "Rupert, do you know what's going on here?" And I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well ..." the Sun and what it's doing and how it came out, and I said, "I'm not aware of the -- I was not warned of the exact timing, I'm not aware of what they're saying, I'm a long, long way away, but I'm sorry to tell you, Gordon, we have come to the conclusion that we will support a change of government when and if there's an election." Not "if", but "when there's an election". And he said -- and I must stress no voices were raised, we were talking more quietly than you and I are now --he said, "Well, your company has declared war on my government and we have no alternative but to make war on your company." And I said, "I'm sorry about that, Gordon, thank you for calling", end of subject.

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com

Private Eye, Gordon Brown, And The Anonymous "Member Of The Public"

Way back in July 2011 Private Eye covered the Guardian's scoop on Gordon Brown's child's medical records being accessed, which seems relevant to today's appearance at the Leveson Inquiry:

The Guardian mucked up its scoop about Gordon Brown being a victim of repeated data thefts by News International hacks with some traditionally sloppy writing.

Its story that the Sun had obtained confidential medical information about Brown's infant son Fraser was true. But it said the Sun had obtained "details from his medical records" - giving the impression that somebody had actually accessed his file, of which there was no evidence.

The Grauniad duly agreed to run a correction. But that wasn't enough for the Sun's managing editor Richard Caseby, who appears to be the last Murdoch executive in the UK who hasn't realised that News International has lost its license to bully. In a number of foul-mouthed phone calls to senior Grauniad execs he demanded a grovelling apology.

Behind the swearing and shouting, the question remains: how did the Sun get that information about Fraser? The Sun says it came from "a member of the public" and that it has an affidavit. It won't, however, identify the member of the public or let anybody read the affidavit, nor will it say how the person was able to discover this confidential medical information.

Fact: the Sun has a close and long-standing relationship with a female health professional at the hospital in question. It appears very likely that the anonymous "member of the public" is her husband. A brief internal inquiry by Fife Health Board concluded lamely that there was no evidence that any of its health workers had accessed Fraser's records.

When the Grauniad questioned the Sun about this, it provoked another round of shouting and swearing from Caseby. At one point he yelled: "Look! You're fucked. Fife Health Board have just cleared our source." Oops! Or, as Mr Caseby would say: "Fucking oops!"

You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com