Exit: Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown leaves the Leveson Inquiry at the High Court in London after a controversial morning of evidence
An emotional and angry Gordon Brown has accused Rupert Murdoch of lying under oath about claims he had 'declared war' on him when The Sun switched allegiance to the Tories at the last election.
After swearing on the bible himself, he also told the Leveson Inquiry he 'wasn't even stung' when the Sun printed a front page headline 'Labour's lost it' on the day of Mr Brown's key party conference speech.
He added the manner in which they switched sides was 'offensive,' and that he was never 'unhinged', as the media mogul had described in his evidence in late April.
Mr Brown, who has been embroiled in a bitter war of words with the Murdoch empire, today went on the attack, and denied Mr Murdoch's claims he slammed the phone down on him and 'declared war' on his business in a rage following the decision.
The discrepancy in evidence means one of the men appears to have lied under oath. But News Corporation have this afternoon issued a statement saying Mr Murdoch 'stands by his evidence.'
‘This is the conversation that Mr Murdoch says happened between him and me where I threatened him and was unhinged,' Mr Brown said.
‘This conversation never took place. I’m shocked and surprised.'
In direct contrast, during the opening minutes of Mr Murdoch's Leveson Inquiry testimony in late April, Mr Murdoch said the former Prime Minister had 'declared war' and was not in a ‘balanced state of mind’.
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Evidence: Gordon Brown has started giving evidence this morning as he was drawn into the Leveson firestorm
Mr Murdoch told the inquiry: ‘I said, “I’m sorry about that Gordon, thank you for calling”, and that was that. End of subject. I don’t think he was in a very balanced state of mind... I don’t know.
'I said that very carefully, under oath, and I stand by every word of it, he added'
In a torrid appearance before the Leveson inquiry, Mr Brown went on to deny a whole series of claims, including a story about his son's cystic fibrosis was printed in the Sun with his backing.
He also said that News International turned against him in 2008 when in a plan 'breathtaking in its arrogance and its ambition' James Murdoch set out demands that would benefit BSkyB, that Mr Brown was not willing to accept.
'We could not go along with that sort of agenda,' Mr Brown said. 'But while we resisted that we were not supported.
'The Conservative Party supported every one of the recommendations made by the Murdoch group.
‘You can serve up dinner, but you don’t have to serve up BSkyB as part of the dinner.
He added: ‘At no point in my premiership would I ever allow a commercial interest to override the public interest, and I’ve looked at the records of all our ministers in that matter and we would never allow the public interest to be subjugated to the commercial or vested interests of any one company.’
Under oath: Mr Brown has made several sensational claims today in his evidence and denied much of Rupert Murdoch's evidence was true
Battle: Gordon Brown and Rupert Murdoch have been engaged in an incredible war of words with the former Prime Minister accused of making a 'threatening' phone call to the media mogul when The Sun dropped support for Labour in 2009
Mr Brown also described his hurt at being painted as a Prime Minister that 'did not care' about troops in Afghanistan in Mr Murdoch's newspapers.
He also went on to deny that he had ever authorised any of his inner circle to spin stories that undermined Tony Blair, his greatest political rival.
GORDON BROWN VS RUPERT MURDOCH: WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?
RUPERT MURDOCH, APRIL 24, 2012: On the alleged phone call, Mr Murdoch claimed Mr Brown said he 'declared war' and he replied: 'I’m sorry about that Gordon, thank you for calling”, and that was that. End of subject. I don’t think he was in a very balanced state of mind.
RUPERT MURDOCH APRIL 25, 2012: 'I said that very carefully yesterday, under oath, and I stand by every word of it.'
GORDON BROWN, JUNE 11, 2012: ‘This is the conversation that Mr Murdoch says happened between him and me where I threatened him and was unhinged,' he said.
‘This conversation never took place. I’m shocked and surprised.'
And he claimed he was hacked by the media in ‘every year’ he was Chancellor of the Exchequer.
He said: ‘Everything personal in your life, your bank or building society account, your medical records, your tax affairs, your lawyer and your accountant.
'In every year I was Chancellor there was either a break in or a breach of these records.
'In most cases I can show that that happened because of intrusion by the media.’
He was also asked whether he agreed with Lord Mandelson's claims that his and Labour's relationship with Rupert Murdoch was too close.
'No I don't actually,' he said.
'The idea that I was influenced in what I did by Mr Murdoch's views is ridiculous'.
'The idea that Mr Murdoch and I had a common bond on policy is simply not correct.
Mr Murdoch 'would probably have had us leave the EU, at war with France and Germany and us as the 51st state of the US,' he added.
Big day: Gordon Brown with his wife Sarah arrive at a rain-soaked Royal Courts of Justice this morning
Off to work: Mr and Mrs Brown head into the Leveson Inquiry where the former Prime Minister will be grilled on his dealings with the Murdoch Empire
HOSPITAL APOLOGISES FOR LEAK OF FRASER'S CYSTIC FIBROSIS
Gordon Brown first accused The Sun of lying about their claims he and his wife told them they could reveal their son Fraser had cystic fibrosis.
Sun claims the story came from another 'shattered dad' whose son had the condition was ‘fiction’, he said.
Fife NHS have since apologised to him because they believe Fraser's medical records were leaked by a member of staff, who may have been paid to do it by The Sun, he said.
In his testimony, Mr Murdoch also attacked Mr Brown for his ‘outrageous’ suggestion that The Sun had hacked medical records to get the story of Mr Brown’s son Fraser being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
Rebekah Brooks also told Leveson that she had been given permission to print by the Browns.
'I find it sad that even now in 2012, members of News International were appearing before the inquiry and maintaining this fiction. We cannot learn the lessons without some honesty,' Mr Brown said.
'There was no question of us being willing, complicit or desiring that this information become public.'
And asked why his wife Sarah remained friends with Rebekah Brooks after the episode he said: 'My wife is the most forgiving person I know.'
He said his wife and Rupert Murdoch's wife were also involved in the same charity work.
And his claims have been backed up by the NHS today.
Exit: Gordon Brown, pictured with his wife and boys when he left Downing Street in 2009, says he had tried to protect his children from the media
John Wilson, chief executive of NHS Fife, said today in a statement: 'Any breach of confidentiality in the NHS is unacceptable. We now accept that it is highly likely that, sometime in 2006, a member of staff in NHS Fife spoke, without authorisation, about the medical condition of Mr Brown's son, Fraser.
'With the passage of time it has not been possible to identify all the circumstances.
'I have apologised to Mr and Mrs Brown and we have taken steps to ensure that what happened to Mr and Mrs Brown and their family should not happen again.'
Mr Brown said a Sun journalist had told his press office that the newspaper had a story about his son's condition which it was going to publish.
He said he and his wife had had to deal with the problem of detail of a medical condition being reported when his daughter had died and wanted to 'minimise' damage.
Mr Brown said no 'parent in the land' would want such detail of a child's illness to be published in a tabloid newspaper.
He added: 'There is nothing you can do other than try to limit the damage.'
Mr Brown denied 'absolutely' that he or his wife had given The Sun 'consent' to publish.
He said he had tried - through the Press Complaints Commission - to get editors of major newspapers to agree on limits of coverage about his children.
'We didn't want our children to grow up thinking somehow they were minor celebrities,' he said. 'We wanted our children to grow up as ordinary young kids.'
BROWN ON BRIEFING AGAINST BLAIR
Denial: Gordon Brown told the Inquiry that he never briefed against Tony Blair
It has long been claimed that Gordon Brown and his team of special advisers and press team had briefed journalists against his rival Tony Blair to try to get the Prime Minister's job.
But he used the Inquiry to deny this ever happened.
Mr Brown said there was 'no evidence' that his aides briefed against Tony Blair or used press to try to force him to resign.
When asked were your aides involved he said: 'I would hope not. I have got no evidence of that. If they did so, it was without my authorisation.’
THEY SAID 'I DIDN'T CARE' ABOUT TROOPS: BROWN ON AFGHANISTAN
Mr Brown singled out The Sun for the way it had portrayed him on a number of occasions in relation to Afghanistan.
In one instance it said he had fallen asleep at a memorial for troops and claimed it was another example showing he did not care about the British forces.
'There's a story you fell asleep but you were praying and The Sun decides this is an example of someone falling asleep and dishonouring the troops,' he said.
Mr Brown also raised a story published by the newspaper in 2009 after he misspelled a dead soldier's name in a hand-written letter of condolence to the victim's grieving mother.
Angry: Then PM Gordon Brown arrives at the Showal forward operating base in Lashkar Gah, southern Afghanistan in 2010, and attacked the Sun on its coverage on the issue
Jacqui Janes accused the former PM of being 'disrespectful' because the message began 'Dear Mrs James' and appeared to contain other spelling errors and a visible correction to her son Jamie's name. The 20-year-old Grenadier Guardsman was killed by an explosion on October 5.
Mr Brown has suffered with eyesight problems since a rugby accident in his youth.
He was reported at the time to have telephoned media mogul Rupert Murdoch directly to complain about the coverage he was receiving.
Mr Brown said the letter was used to show he had a lack of empathy, adding 'and it goes on and on'.
But The Sun's political editor, Tom Newton Dunn, hit back at Mr Brown's claims about its coverage of the Afghanistan war, tweeting: 'Fact for Gordon Brown - Sun has printed the word 'Afghanistan' 4,692 times since May 2010.'
He also tweeted: 'Military loathed Brown because they felt he didn't care about them. Sun reported that, but Gordon rewrites history to shoot the messenger.'
With his wife Sarah beside him for support, Gordon Brown arrived at the Leveson Inquiry this morning to have a say in his war of words with Rupert Murdoch.
Cosy relationship: Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah with Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi shortly after Mr Brown became Prime Minister in 2007, but their relationship eventually turned sour
SARAH BROWN'S TWEETS FROM LEVESON
10.am: Gordon has just gone up to court room ready to present his evidence to Mr Jay #leveson
9.30am: Personally I am delighted that I did not go flying on the slippery, wet court steps on arrival #leveson #highheels
9.25am: Arrived at Royal Courts of Justice with Gordon - everyone here very relaxed and ready to go #leveson
8am: Landed in London to pouring rain - glad we have plans for a morning indoors then!
As his evidence was about to start Sarah Brown tweeted: 'Arrived at Royal Courts of Justice with Gordon - everyone here very relaxed and ready to go.
And in reference to the dreadful June weather she added: 'Personally I am delighted that I did not go flying on the slippery, wet court steps on arrival.'
On a highly-anticipated day of evidence, Chancellor George Osborne will follow the former Prime Minister into the dock at the Royal Courts of Justice.
But it is Mr Brown, who left Downing Street two years ago and has been rarely seen since, who will take centre stage as he speaks out about his dealings and now infamous exchanges with Mr Murdoch.
Big smile: Rupert Murdoch is driven away with his wife Wendi after giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in April. Wendi went to a Pyjama party at Chequers with Sarah Brown
LORD LEVESON: 'I WILL NOT GET DRAWN INTO PARTY POLITICS'
The judge chairing the inquiry into press ethics said today that it was 'essential' that cross-party political support for his investigation was 'not jeopardised'.
Lord Justice Leveson said the 'politics of personality' and any impact inquiry evidence might have on current political issues was not his focus.
The judge told the Leveson Inquiry in London that nothing he said or did was intended to limit any investigation by Parliament.
He was speaking prior to hearing evidence from former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown.
'The purpose of the inquiry is not to challenge the present Government or the decisions taken in the recent past but to look at the much wider sweep of history, across party political boundaries,' said Lord Justice Leveson, a Court of Appeal judge.
'To the extent that there are political questions that Parliament wishes to investigate, I repeat that nothing I say or do is intended to limit or prevent that investigation taking place.'
He said failure to address the 'impact of press behaviour' or the 'consequence of press interests' was not confined to one government or one political party.
The judge added: 'For that reason, it remains essential that cross-party support for this inquiry is not jeopardised.
'It may be more interesting for some to report this inquiry by reference to the politics or personality or the impact of the evidence on current political issues: that is not my focus.'
The feud between the two men, who were once so close that their wives held a ‘slumber party’ together at Chequers, the Prime Minister’s official residence, escalated in the dying days of the Labour Government.
Mr Murdoch’s allies note that Labour figures close to Mr Brown have since led the pursuit of his empire over the phone-hacking scandal.
Mr Brown was asked about that ‘pyjama party’ held by Mr Brown’s wife Sarah at Chequers which was attended by former Sun editor Rebekah Brooks and Mr Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng.
‘I think there were just a bunch of women, mainly complaining about their husbands probably,’ Mr Murdoch said of the episode.
Menwhile George Osborne has been ordered to face questions at the Leveson Inquiry today over his role in the Government’s handling of the Murdoch empire’s attempted BskyB takeover.
The Chancellor had been expected to give only a written statement, but the inquiry into Press ethics has asked to cross-examine.
Mr Brown, Mr Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron lead a heavyweight cast of witnesses next week, including Sir John Major, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne will face embarrassing questions about their wining and dining with Murdoch executives, including former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.
And they will be quizzed about their decision to recruit Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor, as No 10 communications director after he had resigned from the paper over the phone-hacking scandal.
Senior sources say the Prime Minister will fire a warning shot at Lord Justice Leveson on Thursday, making clear that the Government will not adopt new plans for regulating the Press that stifle freedom of speech.
Under pressure: Chancellor George Osborne, right, and Prime Minister David Cameron will face a grilling at the Leveson Inquiry this week over their handling of the BSkyB takeover
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