Blair accused of trying to silence Murdoch critic

[Turborama]

Source: The Independent (UK)

By Martin Hickman and Cahal Milmo | Monday, July 11 2011

Tony Blair urged Gordon Brown to persuade the Labour MP who led the campaign to expose the phone-hacking scandal to fall silent, according to a report yesterday.

The Mail on Sunday stated that "well-placed" sources said Mr Blair had sought to encourage Mr Brown to ask his supporter Tom Watson to back off. A "friend of Mr Brown" was quoted as saying: "There is no doubt about it, Tony wanted Gordon to intervene." Mr Watson, who claimed last week that News International had entered "the criminal underworld", was reported to have been told that Rebekah Brooks, News International's chief executive, "will pursue you for the rest of your life".

Earlier this year, another Labour MP, Chris Bryant, said in a Commons speech that a senior figure allied to Mr Murdoch had warned his friends that speaking out about the scandal would not be forgotten.

Members of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee claim they were warned off calling Ms Brooks to give evidence to them in the committee's inquiry about phone hacking.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blair-accused-of-trying-to-silence-murdoch-critic-2311631.html

[Ozymanithrax]

1. Bush's poodle strikes again.

[avaistheone1]

2. Love it.

so true!

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Was Tony Blair going after the leadership of NATO?

If so, if the phone hacking hadn't become unmanageable, Murdoch would have had access literally to the world.

[Javaman]

4. did blair ever have an independant thought? nt

[Yon_Yonson]

5. War criminal blaire supporting the bush/cheney crime family propaganda machine

No surprise here ... go ahead arsehole dig yourself in deeper

[Octafish]

6. Tony the Poodle? But but but he's a LIBERAL, isn't he?

But but but he's LABOR, isn't he?

Why would a man of the people side with secret power?

[peacetalksforall]

7. Friends of many - the Blairs, the Camerons, and PM Gordon Brown - she attended the

Prince of Wales birthday party.

From Wikipedia

"Political connections

Brooks was a friend of Tony and Cherie Blair.<29> Her 2009 wedding was attended both by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and current Prime Minister David Cameron. Cameron has often socialized with Brooks; they have homes near each other in Oxfordshire, have gone horse riding together, and have had dinner at each others' homes. There has been adverse media comment about her influence on leading politicians.<30>
Personal life

Brooks became engaged to actor Ross Kemp (best known as Grant Mitchell in EastEnders) in 1996, and married him in June 2002 in Las Vegas; she did not take Kemp's surname.<31> On 3 November 2005, it was reported that Brooks had been arrested following an alleged assault on her husband. She was later released without charge and the police took no further action.<31> The Sun had been running a campaign against domestic violence at the time.<6> From this point on, Brooks was referred to in Private Eye as "the slapper" (a pejorative word for a woman of loose morals in Britain, and a pun on the act of slapping). The couple had spent the previous evening in the company of the former Cabinet Minister David Blunkett, who had resigned for the second time on that day.<32>
Private Eye and The Independent<33> reported that the couple had separated; this was not widely reported in the remainder of the British press. The 7 March 2008 issue of Private Eye refers to her "paramour", former racehorse trainer and author Charlie Brooks. The Guardian reported on 5 June 2009 that she would marry Brooks.<34> The Independent reported that Brooks and her fiancé had married in a lakeside ceremony in June 2009;<35> she took his surname.
Brooks is a friend of Sheryl Gascoigne, the ex-wife of footballer Paul Gascoigne.<9> She also attended the Prince of Wales' 50th birthday party.<5>
Brooks lives in Chipping Norton.<36>
"

[Kingofalldems]

8. Kick