A day of drama as Blair denies doing deal with Murdoch

Tony Blair yesterday defended his relationship with Rupert Murdoch, insisting he had never done a deal with the media mogul and claiming they only grew close after he quit Downing Street.

The former Prime Minister, who is godfather to one of Mr Murdoch’s children, told the Leveson Inquiry they had simply had a “working relationship” until after 2007.

Mr Blair admitted he had “flown half way round the world” to Hayman Island, Australia, to meet Mr Murdoch and News Corporation executives when he was Labour leader in 1995, in the hope of persuading the organisation against “tearing us to pieces”.

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His evidence was interrupted when a protester burst into the courtroom from a secure corridor and branded him a “war criminal”. The man was arrested and the session continued.

Mr Blair said: “I would describe my relationship with him as a working relationship, until after I left office.

“Despite all this stuff about me being godfather to one of his children. I would not have been godfather to one of his children on the basis of my relationship in office.

“After I left office I got to know him. Now it’s different.”

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Mr Blair said he had been in a powerful position, as prime minister, and Mr Murdoch had been in a powerful position as boss of a media empire.

“It was a relationship about power,” said Mr Blair. “I find these relationships are not personal, they are working, to me.”

About one third of his meetings in the early days were with the Murdoch empire but that proportion grew as he neared the end of his leadership as it was one of the few organisations that remained vaguely supportive, he told the inquiry.

Mr Blair said The Sun and the Daily Mail were the most powerful newspapers and he eventually gave up bothering to meet the latter because it became so hostile.Once they had turned against you it was a “full frontal, day in day out, lifetime commitment,” he added. Mr Blair said it was inevitable that politicians and journalists would have close working links but said newspapers had become an instrument of political power.

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The inquiry heard he made a strategic decision to manage the problem, not confront it.

Mr Blair said he saw nothing wrong with asking Mr Murdoch whether his newspapers would support Labour in 2001.

Asked about his relationship with former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, Mr Blair was in qualified agreement with Ms Brooks’s description of it.

She has described formal, informal and social meetings with him and called him “a constant presence in my life for many years”.

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Mr Blair denied New Labour had run a Press operation that used bullying tactics and favouritism to manipulate journalists.

“I have never authorised or said to someone go out and brief against this person or that person,” he said.

“I hate that type of stuff. It’s the lowest form of politics.”

Meanwhile Lord Leveson gave an indication of the measures he believes are needed to tackle problems in the Press.

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He told the inquiry he wants a body that is independent of the establishment and of the Press. Measures to improve systems of redress for the public and a mechanism for intervening before damaging stories are published are also being considered.

He said: “Whatever comes out of this must be independent of government, independent of the state, independent of parliament but independent of the Press.

“It has to have experts in it, it must command the respect of the press but also the general public.

“I would like to think about a system that provides redress, particularly to those who can’t afford to litigate. It’s got to be speedy, it’s got to be effective, it’s got to achieve a result.”