Another awful twist to the phone hacking scandal today as Sara Payne found out that her phone had been hacked. The phone that had been hacked was given to her as a gift by Rebekah Brooks so she could stay in touch with her supporters.

The extraordinary access that the Murdoch family had to Cabinet ministers was revealed yesterday, more than two dozen private meetings between the family and senior members of Government were granted in the 15 months since David Cameron entered Downing Street.

Cabinet Ministers had over 60 private meeting with the Murdoch’s and the figure rises to 107 if you include social events. James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks were given confidential defence briefings on Afghanistan and Britain’s strategic defence by Defence Secretary, Liam Fox.

George Osborne had 16 separate meetings since May 2010 with News International editors and executives, he also invited Elisabeth Murdoch to his 40th birthday party last month.
The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, dined with Rupert Murdoch within days of the Government coming to power, the minister to see Rupert Murdoch most frequently is Michael Gove, a former News International employee.

The list was released by government departments yesterday (Wednesday) and highlight the unhealthy relationship between News International and senior members of the Cabinet.

David Cameron said he met News International executives on 26 occasions since entering Downing Street.

To put it in perspective Mr Osborne met with representatives of The Daily Telegraph group on six occasions and The Independent, London Evening Standard twice. Mr Hunt met Telegraph and Independent figures twice each and the BBC 11 times.

Last night a spokesman for Mr Gove insisted that his meetings with the Murdoch’s were of a personal nature. “Michael worked for the BBC and News International and his wife works for News International now,” he said. “He has known Rupert Murdoch for over a decade. He did not discuss the BSkyB deal with the Murdoch’s and isn’t at all embarrassed about his meetings, most of which have been about education, which is his job.”

A spokesman for Mr Fox said that the briefings given to the Murdoch’s were given because of the “interest in defence matters” shown by News International papers.

The Chancellor had said he would be happy to talk about the meetings.

It was revealed today that the phone hacking inquiry might take longer than a year.

James Murdoch received unanimous backing today from the BSkyB board despite pressure to step down.

What’s next?