Instead of drawing a line under the crisis, News International's dramatic apology has turned the spotlight on the chief executive
Rebekah Brooks, News International’s chief executive, declined to appear before MPs investigating allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
According to the Hollywood rumour mill, Hugh Grant was originally front-runner for the role of George VI in The King's Speech, the film that recently won Colin Firth an Oscar. While Grant may rue the missed opportunity, perhaps he should think of putting his name forward for a different gong – Fleet Street's scoop of the year.
In this week's New Statesman, Grant revealed how he had bugged Paul McMullan, a former News of the World journalist who lifted the lid on near epidemic levels of phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's newspaper while it was under the editorship of Andy Coulson, David Cameron's former spin doctor.
But it was McMullan's asides about Rebekah Brooks, one of the most powerful people in the UK media landscape, that provided Grant's article with its juiciest vignettes. The surprisingly guileless McMullan – that unaware he was being recorded by the Four Weddings star – painted a picture of the chief executive of News International, owner of the NoW, as a kingmaker to whom Cameron owed much of his success.
Cameron and Brooks have homes near to each other in the Cotswolds and, according to McMullan, go horse riding together. "They're all mates together," McMullan explained. "Cameron is very much in debt to Rebekah … for helping him not quite win the election."
But the relationship between the prime minister and Murdoch's most loyal lieutenant will be sorely tested now.
News International's humiliating mea culpa on phone hacking has again placed Brooks firmly in her enemies' cross hairs.
The company announced it was preparing to pay compensation, predicted to run into tens of millions of pounds, after admitting liability for intercepting the telephone messages of a number of public figures, including the actress Sienna Miller, the sports agent Sky Andrew and the former Sky presenter Andy Gray.
The company also confirmed it was offering compensation to the Labour MP Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary who took crucial, and potentially market-sensitive, decisions that could have had an impact on Murdoch's business interests.
The offer may not be sufficient. Miller's solicitor, Mark Thomson, of Atkins Thomson, told the Observer: "Sienna's claims are based on outrageous violations of her privacy; her voicemails were persistently hacked and the information obtained was used to publish numerous intrusive articles over a period of a year. Her primary concern is to discover the whole truth and for all those responsible to be held to account."
Today the newspaper printed an apology stating: "Here today, we publicly and unreservedly apologise to all such individuals. What happened to them should not have happened. It was and remains unacceptable."
Declining to appear before parliament's culture select committee when it was examining phone-hacking allegations at the NoW, Brooks, the paper's editor between 2000 and 2003, was almost contemptuous of suggestions that the practice was widespread.
Brooks and several fellow senior executives said that they had brought in two outside law firms to investigate the allegations, and both had found nothing untoward.
But this line was demolished as a string of celebrities sued, alleging reporters had repeatedly hacked their phone messages. As information held by the Metropolitan police was disclosed to their legal teams, it quickly became clear that the practice of phone hacking extended beyond one rogue reporter, as the NoW had maintained.
The arrests of the paper's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, 50, and its former head of news, Ian Edmondson, 42, in connection with the affair appeared to reinforce the suspicions.
Legal sources told the Observer that they expected two more journalists who had worked for the paper would be arrested soon.
That would be a further headache for James Murdoch, Rupert's son, recently promoted to third in command at News International's parent company, News Corporation, who felt confident enough to declare: "What we were able to do is really put this problem into a box. If you get everybody sucked into something like that, then the whole business will sputter, which you don't want."
But how "sucked-in" is Brooks?
Significantly, News International said that the compensation would apply to allegations of voicemail hacking only between 2004 and 2006 – during the time that the paper was edited by Coulson.
But the Labour MP Chris Bryant, who has issued proceedings against the NoW, said that not only did he believe that his phone had been hacked in 2003, but he knew of others who claimed that their phones had been hacked in 2002. "News International are trying to limit their liability in as many ways as possible, and they are trying to protect senior people," he said.
The former independent MP George Galloway also said that he believed phone hacking had taken place at the newspaper prior to Coulson's editorship. Significantly the NoW's apology acknowledged: "It is now apparent that our previous inquiries failed to uncover important evidence and we acknowledge our actions then were not sufficiently robust."
In July 2009, Colin Myler, the paper's editor, appeared before the culture select committee to declare there was "no evidence" phone hacking went beyond that by its royal editor, Clive Goodman, who was jailed in 2007.
Brooks's enemies – many of them politically motivated, given the huge influence her newspapers wield – contend that, as chief executive of News International since September 2009, she should have been more active in investigating the allegations.
Crucially, however, she has the support of Murdoch senior, and there has been no evidence to show that she was aware phone hacking was taking place.
A more immediate problem is the deadline given to her by Keith Vaz, MP, who chairs the home affairs select committee, to elaborate on an admission that she made to parliament that the Sun, which she edited between 2003 and 2009, had paid police officers for information.
The admission has fuelled claims that Scotland Yard failed to thoroughly investigate the scandal in its initial inquiry because of the close relationship between some senior officers and the newspaper.
Attention is now switching from the activities of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed along with Goodman, to one of his rivals, Jonathan Rees.
Rees, who had a £150,000-a-year contract with the NoW stretching from when it was edited by Brooks, was acquitted at the Old Bailey of conspiring to murder his former business partner, Daniel Morgan, in one of London's most notorious unsolved murders.
Sid Fillery, a former Met detective who worked with Rees and had a close relationship with the NoW, was also cleared in connection with the case, having been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Fillery led the original investigation into the Morgan murder.
In a dramatic twist, lawyers suing the NoW now want to know whether, as part of their investigation into Rees, the Met obtained information that may help their clients.
Gerald Shamash, a solicitor who is acting for Alastair Campbell, said that he had asked the Met to examine its files. "I have been pointed in the direction by others who suggest we need to find out from the material taken from Jonathan Rees whether Alastair Campbell's phone, or other material belonging to him, was intercepted or taken during the time he was at No 10," Shamash said.
Paul Farrelly, a Labour MP and member of the culture select committee that investigated the phone-hacking claims, said that it would issue a new report after Easter, given its unresolved concerns about the scandal.
"It's inevitable we will want to delve into the inadequacies of the initial police inquiry, the contradictory stances between the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service, and the fact that all those people from the NoW who came to talk to us appear to have been mistaken in their understanding of events," said Farrelly who suggested that Myler's position as editor of the paper was "untenable".
News International's ability to contain the story is hampered because it does not know what else is coming down the tracks.
The former Met commissioner and London mayoral candidate, Brian Paddick, who believes that his own phone was hacked, said that the company was apologising only in cases where it had been caught red-handed.
"These are people who have issued proceedings, they've got the courts to force News International to hand over evidence," Paddick said.
Shamash said: "There is material that I have seen, which the paper hasn't seen, but when they do, their position will change dramatically. And this is true for others bringing claims."
It may be some time before Brooks is seen riding out with Cameron.
2005
December Royal family suspects interference with the voicemails of Prince William. Police inquiry launched.
2006
May Detectives tell prosecutors that data shows "a vast number of public figures" had voicemails intercepted.
August Police arrest News of the World royal correspondent Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, and seize records and audiotapes, but no other journalists are interviewed.
2007
January Goodman and Mulcaire are jailed. Prosecutors identify only eight victims. Andy Coulson resigns as News of the World editor, claiming not to have known of Goodman's activities.
July Coulson appointed as media adviser to David Cameron.
2009
July The Guardian reveals that one of the eight victims of hacking, Gordon Taylor, the head of the footballers' union, has been paid £1m to drop legal action.
2011
5 January News of the World's assistant editor (news), Ian Edmondson, is suspended following a "serious allegation" relating to hacking in 2005-06.
21 January Coulson resigns as Cameron's director of communications.
26 January Met launches fresh inquiry after receiving "new information".
5 April Edmondson and News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck arrested.
8 April News International announces a compensation scheme to deal with "justifiable claims" fairly and efficiently.
In this week's New Statesman, Grant revealed how he had bugged Paul McMullan, a former News of the World journalist who lifted the lid on near epidemic levels of phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's newspaper while it was under the editorship of Andy Coulson, David Cameron's former spin doctor.
But it was McMullan's asides about Rebekah Brooks, one of the most powerful people in the UK media landscape, that provided Grant's article with its juiciest vignettes. The surprisingly guileless McMullan – that unaware he was being recorded by the Four Weddings star – painted a picture of the chief executive of News International, owner of the NoW, as a kingmaker to whom Cameron owed much of his success.
Cameron and Brooks have homes near to each other in the Cotswolds and, according to McMullan, go horse riding together. "They're all mates together," McMullan explained. "Cameron is very much in debt to Rebekah … for helping him not quite win the election."
But the relationship between the prime minister and Murdoch's most loyal lieutenant will be sorely tested now.
News International's humiliating mea culpa on phone hacking has again placed Brooks firmly in her enemies' cross hairs.
The company announced it was preparing to pay compensation, predicted to run into tens of millions of pounds, after admitting liability for intercepting the telephone messages of a number of public figures, including the actress Sienna Miller, the sports agent Sky Andrew and the former Sky presenter Andy Gray.
The company also confirmed it was offering compensation to the Labour MP Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary who took crucial, and potentially market-sensitive, decisions that could have had an impact on Murdoch's business interests.
The offer may not be sufficient. Miller's solicitor, Mark Thomson, of Atkins Thomson, told the Observer: "Sienna's claims are based on outrageous violations of her privacy; her voicemails were persistently hacked and the information obtained was used to publish numerous intrusive articles over a period of a year. Her primary concern is to discover the whole truth and for all those responsible to be held to account."
Today the newspaper printed an apology stating: "Here today, we publicly and unreservedly apologise to all such individuals. What happened to them should not have happened. It was and remains unacceptable."
Declining to appear before parliament's culture select committee when it was examining phone-hacking allegations at the NoW, Brooks, the paper's editor between 2000 and 2003, was almost contemptuous of suggestions that the practice was widespread.
Brooks and several fellow senior executives said that they had brought in two outside law firms to investigate the allegations, and both had found nothing untoward.
But this line was demolished as a string of celebrities sued, alleging reporters had repeatedly hacked their phone messages. As information held by the Metropolitan police was disclosed to their legal teams, it quickly became clear that the practice of phone hacking extended beyond one rogue reporter, as the NoW had maintained.
The arrests of the paper's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, 50, and its former head of news, Ian Edmondson, 42, in connection with the affair appeared to reinforce the suspicions.
Legal sources told the Observer that they expected two more journalists who had worked for the paper would be arrested soon.
That would be a further headache for James Murdoch, Rupert's son, recently promoted to third in command at News International's parent company, News Corporation, who felt confident enough to declare: "What we were able to do is really put this problem into a box. If you get everybody sucked into something like that, then the whole business will sputter, which you don't want."
But how "sucked-in" is Brooks?
Significantly, News International said that the compensation would apply to allegations of voicemail hacking only between 2004 and 2006 – during the time that the paper was edited by Coulson.
But the Labour MP Chris Bryant, who has issued proceedings against the NoW, said that not only did he believe that his phone had been hacked in 2003, but he knew of others who claimed that their phones had been hacked in 2002. "News International are trying to limit their liability in as many ways as possible, and they are trying to protect senior people," he said.
The former independent MP George Galloway also said that he believed phone hacking had taken place at the newspaper prior to Coulson's editorship. Significantly the NoW's apology acknowledged: "It is now apparent that our previous inquiries failed to uncover important evidence and we acknowledge our actions then were not sufficiently robust."
In July 2009, Colin Myler, the paper's editor, appeared before the culture select committee to declare there was "no evidence" phone hacking went beyond that by its royal editor, Clive Goodman, who was jailed in 2007.
Brooks's enemies – many of them politically motivated, given the huge influence her newspapers wield – contend that, as chief executive of News International since September 2009, she should have been more active in investigating the allegations.
Crucially, however, she has the support of Murdoch senior, and there has been no evidence to show that she was aware phone hacking was taking place.
A more immediate problem is the deadline given to her by Keith Vaz, MP, who chairs the home affairs select committee, to elaborate on an admission that she made to parliament that the Sun, which she edited between 2003 and 2009, had paid police officers for information.
The admission has fuelled claims that Scotland Yard failed to thoroughly investigate the scandal in its initial inquiry because of the close relationship between some senior officers and the newspaper.
Attention is now switching from the activities of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed along with Goodman, to one of his rivals, Jonathan Rees.
Rees, who had a £150,000-a-year contract with the NoW stretching from when it was edited by Brooks, was acquitted at the Old Bailey of conspiring to murder his former business partner, Daniel Morgan, in one of London's most notorious unsolved murders.
Sid Fillery, a former Met detective who worked with Rees and had a close relationship with the NoW, was also cleared in connection with the case, having been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Fillery led the original investigation into the Morgan murder.
In a dramatic twist, lawyers suing the NoW now want to know whether, as part of their investigation into Rees, the Met obtained information that may help their clients.
Gerald Shamash, a solicitor who is acting for Alastair Campbell, said that he had asked the Met to examine its files. "I have been pointed in the direction by others who suggest we need to find out from the material taken from Jonathan Rees whether Alastair Campbell's phone, or other material belonging to him, was intercepted or taken during the time he was at No 10," Shamash said.
Paul Farrelly, a Labour MP and member of the culture select committee that investigated the phone-hacking claims, said that it would issue a new report after Easter, given its unresolved concerns about the scandal.
"It's inevitable we will want to delve into the inadequacies of the initial police inquiry, the contradictory stances between the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service, and the fact that all those people from the NoW who came to talk to us appear to have been mistaken in their understanding of events," said Farrelly who suggested that Myler's position as editor of the paper was "untenable".
News International's ability to contain the story is hampered because it does not know what else is coming down the tracks.
The former Met commissioner and London mayoral candidate, Brian Paddick, who believes that his own phone was hacked, said that the company was apologising only in cases where it had been caught red-handed.
"These are people who have issued proceedings, they've got the courts to force News International to hand over evidence," Paddick said.
Shamash said: "There is material that I have seen, which the paper hasn't seen, but when they do, their position will change dramatically. And this is true for others bringing claims."
It may be some time before Brooks is seen riding out with Cameron.
How the phone-hacking scandal unravelled
2005
December Royal family suspects interference with the voicemails of Prince William. Police inquiry launched.
2006
May Detectives tell prosecutors that data shows "a vast number of public figures" had voicemails intercepted.
August Police arrest News of the World royal correspondent Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, and seize records and audiotapes, but no other journalists are interviewed.
2007
January Goodman and Mulcaire are jailed. Prosecutors identify only eight victims. Andy Coulson resigns as News of the World editor, claiming not to have known of Goodman's activities.
July Coulson appointed as media adviser to David Cameron.
2009
July The Guardian reveals that one of the eight victims of hacking, Gordon Taylor, the head of the footballers' union, has been paid £1m to drop legal action.
2011
5 January News of the World's assistant editor (news), Ian Edmondson, is suspended following a "serious allegation" relating to hacking in 2005-06.
21 January Coulson resigns as Cameron's director of communications.
26 January Met launches fresh inquiry after receiving "new information".
5 April Edmondson and News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck arrested.
8 April News International announces a compensation scheme to deal with "justifiable claims" fairly and efficiently.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/09/rebekah-brooks-phone-hacking-news-international
