Tag Archives: rebekah wade

Rebekah Brooks Expecting First Child

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Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks is expecting her first child with racehorse trainer husband Charlie.

The couple are having the child through a surrogate. They are the biological parents and it will be born in February 2012.

Brooks’s spokesperson David Wilson said in a statement released on November the 17th: “Charlie and Rebekah are overjoyed. While the pregnancy has not been without its difficulties and sadness, Charlie and Rebekah are obviously hoping for a very happy ending to almost five years of trying to conceive themselves.

“Both parents are acutely aware of the infertility problems encountered by many other couples, and in the longer term hope to recognise their own good fortune by working in some way to help others facing similar challenges.”

The couple are having a girl, who was originally one of twins, but one of the twins died earlier in the pregnancy.

The surrogate mother wishes to remain anonymous.

Murdoch Update: News of the World Tapped Sara Payne's Phone.

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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?

Les Hinton and Rebekah Brooks Resign. Murdoch Latest

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Following on from the last article Frost did on the phone hacking scandal, Rebekah Brooks has finally resigned after Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of the press baron, launched a rant that Brooks had ‘fucked the company’. Les Hinton, who has been at News Corporation for over 50 years has also resigned saying that he ‘had no other choice’. Apparently, Brooks had offered her resignation a week ago.

 

Rupert Murdoch has taken out a full page advert in the national press to say apologise despite saying previously that ‘we only made minor mistakes.’ The FBI have launched an investigation into the claims that the phones of 9/11 victims were hacked.

 

Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter who exposed Watergate and helped depose a US president, says it is evident that the events of the past week “are the beginning, not the end, of the seismic event”.

 

News Corporation has hired Edelman, a global communications company to manage the crisis on both sides of the Atlantic and it looks like James Murdoch being the heir apparent it now a pipe dream.

 

UK parliamentary hearing start next week and the future is looking grim for Murdoch, he personally met the family of Milly Dowler to apologise to them, but the damage has all been done. It will interesting to see what happens next. It is ironic to see the hounder hounded, a lot of the photographers taking pictures of Murdoch, actually work for him. Tom Mockridge has been appointed to run News International. Will Chase Carey be heading up global corporation soon.

 

News Corp Withdraw BSkyB Bid

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News Corporation have withdrawn their BSkyB bid amid the ‘Hackgate’ scandal.

The move follows further claims as the fallout into phone hacking continues. With news stories about the now defunct News of the World getting worse by the day and spreading to the other Murdoch papers, the media mogul now faces fresh accusations. It would seem News Corp has forgotten the first rule of journalism: Never become the story.

People on the News of the World payroll are said to have illegally accessed Gordon Brown’s son’s medical records and, after hacking Milly Dowler’s voicemail, deleted the messages when her mailbox was full – a move that made her family, and police, believe she was still alive.

News Corporation own 39% of BSkyB and announced last year that it intended to buy the remaining 61%.

Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of News Corporation, commented: “We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate. News Corporation remains a committed long-term shareholder in BSkyB. We are proud of the success it has achieved and our contribution to it.”

BSKYB chief executive Jeremy Daroch added: “We are delivering on our clear, consistent strategy and are building a larger, more profitable business for the long term. We remain very confident in the broadly based growth opportunity for BSkyB as we continue to add new customers, sell more products, develop our leading position in content and innovation, and expand the contribution from our other businesses.”

The announcement comes as online petitions against News Corporation increase. Actor Hugh Grant got the ball rolling when he wore a wire and in a case of ‘the biter, bit’, taped a former News of the World journalist confessing that their paper “bugged everyone.” The piece was for an edition of the New Statesman which was being guest edited by his ex-girlfriend Jemima Khan.

Hugh Grant for Prime Minister….

Hacking Latest: Sunday Times targeted Brown

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According to the BBC, the Sunday Times illegally targeted private personal information of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The Sunday Times is also a member of Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

BBC documents suggest ‘blagging’ was used to obtain private medical and financial information. ‘Blagging’ was made illegal in 1994 and involves, ‘knowingly or recklessly obtaining or disclosing personal data without consent’. News international private investigators are thought to have targeted Brown’s police and tax records.

In one incident, someone said to be acting for the Sunday Times is accused of impersonating Mr Brown and obtaining details from his building society.

The BBC says, the Browns also fear another News International paper, the Sun, may have obtained medical records about their son Fraser. The Sun revealed Fraser had cystic fibrosis in 2006.

According to the Financial Times Gordon Brown is said to be very angry at News International, particularly for the incident relating to his son. He is expected to make a statement accusing other News International corporations of hacking.

Many are now asking how far the scandal goes? Have we only seen the tip of the iceberg so far.

In related news News Corporations bid for BskyB looked all but dead in the water as culture secretary Jeremy Hunt referred the bid to the regulator. Deputy PM Nick Clegg also urged Murdoch to abandon the takeover.

 

Blair Accused of Hushing up News of the World Hacking Scandal by Brown's Friends; Meanwhile Blair Slams Brown's Record in Office

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According to friends of Gordon Brown, Tony Blair urged Brown to put pressure on his fellow Labour MP and friend Tom Watson to back off the News of the World. A spokesman for Mr Blair has said, ‘The allegation is categorically untrue’.

Watson has played a major role in uncovering the hacking scandal. His two year campaign was a major reason for the closure of the News of the World. Watson used commons legal protection to make damning allegations against the News of the World and News International executive chief Rebekah Brooks. According to the dailymail.co.uk Watson was threatened by NI in the early stages of the investigation. He was said to have been told by someone in the company, ‘Rebekah Brooks will pursue you for the rest of her life’.

But Watson carried on regardless. He successfully called for, former news of the world editor Andy Coulson, to resign as prime minster David Cameron’s communications director. He has subsequently said in the commons that, ‘Rebekah Brooks was not only responsible for wrong doing, but knew about it’.

Tony Blair became a long-time friend of Mr Murdoch after they made a famous alliance in 1994. Ever since that point News Internationals papers supported Blair until he left office. The support was pulled from Labour when Gordon Brown took over the party, with Murdoch’s papers switching support to the rival conservative party. Whilst Mr Blair has denied the allegations a friend of Mr Brown said, ‘There is no doubt about it, Tony wanted Gordon to intervene’.

Mr Brown himself has refused to comment.

In a remarkable coincidence two days ago Tony Blair came out and attacked Gordon Brown’s record in office. Blair warned Labour against returning to its traditional left wing support. According to the independent.co.uk Blair tore into Brown’s time in office during an address to a progress campaign group. Blair said, ‘We lost the driving rhythm which made us so successful’. He accused the party of no longer being New Labour.

 

News Of The World Closes, Andy Coulson Arrested

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The News of The World is to close amid more scandal.

The newspaper, which has allegedly hacked phones belonging to Milly Dowler, servicemen killed in action and victims of the 7/7 atrocities, is 168 years old.

Some MPs believe the closure is to protect News International’s Chief Exceutive, Rebekah Wade, who appears to be something of a teflon don. But Andy Coulson, former Communications Chief for David Cameron, was not so lucky. Coulson was arrested at at a south London police station at 10.30 am today for alleged phone hacking and making illegal payments to police during his tenure as New of the World editor. He remains in custody.

His arrest was conducted by officers from Operation Weeting, the inquiry into phone hacking at the tabloid, and Operation Elveden, the investigation into allegations that police officers were illegally paid £100,000 by the newspaper during Coulson’s editorship.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The Metropolitan Police Service has this morning arrested a member of the public in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking.

“At 10:30, officers arrested a man on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.

The decision to axe the News of the World was made by James Murdoch. He said: “Actions that were taken by certain individuals in what had been a good newsroom breached the trust of the News of the World’s readers.

“We will cooperate fully with investigations into alleged activities, and will put processes in place to make sure that they won’t happen again.”

He went on to say that certain people “did not live up to the standards that the company believes in.”