Blair aides fear phones were hacked

[cal04]

http://www.scotsman.com/news/Blair-aides-fear-phones-were.6802360.jp

POLICE are being asked to examine whether Downing Street staff were targeted by News of the World phone hackers, as Rupert Murdoch prepares this week for a potentially explosive showdown with MPs.

Scotland on Sunday has learned that former aides to ex-prime minister Tony Blair are among those who have contacted the Metropolitan police, in the belief that their phones were hacked into and their personal details bought and sold.

The revelation comes as MPs on the Westminster culture, media and sport committee prepare to ask Rupert Murdoch and his son James which of their executives had lied to parliament when the company previously claimed the scandal was the work of one "rogue reporter".

The Metropolitan police disclosed last week that more than 4,000 people may have had their phones hacked, in a scandal which this weekend has left the Murdoch empire teetering on the brink. Yesterday, it emerged that journalists from rival newspapers may be among those affected after their names appeared in the seized notebooks of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

[DJ13]

1. Blair aides fear that his deals with Bush become public knowledge

[gratuitous]

2. I used to wonder why Blair didn't act like he was smarter than Bush

He certainly was smarter than Bush, but seemed content to be painted as a buffoon and Bush's poodle in public. Occasionally, he'd rear up on his little hind legs and bark a little that he was nobody's poodle, but nobody was taken in. Now it appears that Murdoch and his little minions may have had their hooks in Tony. So, rather than bring out the truth, thousands of military personnel were dispatched to kill and die, hundreds of billions of dollars were wasted (though I imagine some of that money found its way into Tony's pocket, suitably cleansed of blood one hopes), and God knows what further depradations.

Thanks, Tony. Remind me if I'm ever in a jam again to forget your fucking miserable existence. When your own aides were being blackmailed and the situation called for someone with the courage to stand up, you did nothing.