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Hacking scandal fells Britain's top policeman
July 18, 2011, Monday
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A phone-hacking scandal centered on Rupert Murdoch's News Corp cost Britain's top policeman his job and renewed questions today about Prime Minister David Cameron's judgment.
Cameron cut to two days from four a trade mission to Africa as pressure mounts on the Conservative leader to tackle a scandal that has shaken Britons' faith in police, press and political leaders.
Asked why Cameron had decided to go ahead with the visit to South Africa and Nigeria when a crisis was raging at home, Cameron's spokesman said the Prime Minister had a number of roles and responsibilities: "One of them is the economy" and promoting British business, he said.
Two top Murdoch executives have quit and the Australian-born media baron has closed his News of the World tabloid that was at the heart of the phone hacking, and abandoned a US$12 billion deal to buy all of highly profitable satellite broadcaster BSkyB .
As the scandal snowballed News Corp's Australian shares fell 7.6 percent to as low as A$13.65 (US$14.53), their lowest since July 2009, and a 7.4 discount to News Corp's last US close, implying US$3 billion of market capitalisation would be lost when US trade resumes.
In Britain, detectives arrested Rebekah Brooks, former head of News Corp's British newspaper arm, on suspicion of intercepting communications and corruption.
Brooks, who once edited the News of the World, was released on bail at midnight yesterday, about 12 hours after she went to a London police station to be arrested, her spokesman said. Brooks has denied any wrongdoing.
Analysts said as more and more heads rolled the heat had been turned up on Cameron and Murdoch over their handling of the scandal, with the media tycoon due to be questioned by parliament tomorrow.
The scandal reached boiling point over the alleged hacking of the mobile phone of a teenage murder victim.
The News of the World, which published its final edition a week ago, is alleged to have hacked up to 4,000 phones including that of murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler, sparking the furore that forced Murdoch to close the paper and drop his BSkyB bid.
Paul Stephenson, London's police commissioner, quit on Sunday in the face of allegations that police officers had accepted money from the tabloid and had not done enough to investigate hacking charges that surfaced as far back as 2005.
The trigger for his resignation was revelations he had stayed at a luxury spa where Neil Wallis, a former News of the World deputy editor, was a public relations adviser. Wallis, also employed by police as a consultant, was arrested last week in connection with phone hacking.
"I had no knowledge of the extent of this disgraceful practice (of phone hacking)," Stephenson said in a televised statement.
Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May said she was concerned about potential conflicts of interest in the Metropolitan Police, which has been criticised for its handling of the hacking investigation.
"It is important that there is a line between the investigators and the investigated," May told BBC radio.
Cameron cut to two days from four a trade mission to Africa as pressure mounts on the Conservative leader to tackle a scandal that has shaken Britons' faith in police, press and political leaders.
Asked why Cameron had decided to go ahead with the visit to South Africa and Nigeria when a crisis was raging at home, Cameron's spokesman said the Prime Minister had a number of roles and responsibilities: "One of them is the economy" and promoting British business, he said.
Two top Murdoch executives have quit and the Australian-born media baron has closed his News of the World tabloid that was at the heart of the phone hacking, and abandoned a US$12 billion deal to buy all of highly profitable satellite broadcaster BSkyB .
As the scandal snowballed News Corp's Australian shares fell 7.6 percent to as low as A$13.65 (US$14.53), their lowest since July 2009, and a 7.4 discount to News Corp's last US close, implying US$3 billion of market capitalisation would be lost when US trade resumes.
In Britain, detectives arrested Rebekah Brooks, former head of News Corp's British newspaper arm, on suspicion of intercepting communications and corruption.
Brooks, who once edited the News of the World, was released on bail at midnight yesterday, about 12 hours after she went to a London police station to be arrested, her spokesman said. Brooks has denied any wrongdoing.
Analysts said as more and more heads rolled the heat had been turned up on Cameron and Murdoch over their handling of the scandal, with the media tycoon due to be questioned by parliament tomorrow.
The scandal reached boiling point over the alleged hacking of the mobile phone of a teenage murder victim.
The News of the World, which published its final edition a week ago, is alleged to have hacked up to 4,000 phones including that of murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler, sparking the furore that forced Murdoch to close the paper and drop his BSkyB bid.
Paul Stephenson, London's police commissioner, quit on Sunday in the face of allegations that police officers had accepted money from the tabloid and had not done enough to investigate hacking charges that surfaced as far back as 2005.
The trigger for his resignation was revelations he had stayed at a luxury spa where Neil Wallis, a former News of the World deputy editor, was a public relations adviser. Wallis, also employed by police as a consultant, was arrested last week in connection with phone hacking.
"I had no knowledge of the extent of this disgraceful practice (of phone hacking)," Stephenson said in a televised statement.
Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May said she was concerned about potential conflicts of interest in the Metropolitan Police, which has been criticised for its handling of the hacking investigation.
"It is important that there is a line between the investigators and the investigated," May told BBC radio.
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