Two former Lib Dem cabinet ministers and a former party whip are suing the publisher of the Sun and the defunct News of the World, claiming that their phones were hacked for stories or to “exert political influence”, including when Rupert Murdoch was seeking approval for a takeover of BSkyB.
Journalists working at Murdoch’s newspapers are said to have unlawfully targeted the former business secretary Vince Cable as well as Chris Huhne, a former energy and climate change secretary, and Norman Lamb, a whip and sometime adviser to the then deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.
The purpose of the attempts to access the men’s voicemail messages during their time in coalition with the Conservatives and to carry out other “unlawful information gathering” had been to source stories about them in order to “sell newspapers”, but to also influence political events, according to the claims lodged at the high court, which have been denied.
In the first period of the coalition government, Murdoch’s News Corp wanted to buy up the remaining 61% of shares that it did not already own in BSkyB for £7.8bn.
Cable, as business secretary, was to be the ultimate arbiter, but he was removed from his position by the then prime minister, David Cameron, after the BBC’s Robert Peston was leaked a tape in which he had told a constituent that he had “declared war” on Murdoch and expected to win.
According to Cable’s particulars of claim, the source of the tape to the BBC was Will Lewis, a former editor at the Daily Telegraph. That newspaper was the first to report some aspects of the recording, though not the comments about Murdoch.
At the time of the leak to the BBC, Lewis had moved on from the Telegraph to become general manager at News International, the previous name of News UK, owner of Murdoch’s newspapers’ publisher, News Group Newspapers.
Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sun Oct 29, 2023 10:12 am Grown man runs for Parliament.Sorry to quote my own post, but has anyone spotted this "Sue Gray row"? We ought to have heard about it by now.
- By davidjay