Re: News International – the story continues : Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:28 pm
major hound wrote:
I don't doubt it's true that Blair and Campbell cosied too far up to Murdoch, that's in the past. Cameron, Osbourne and Hunt have taken things even further - effectively they got the KY Gel out, in that they had a Murdoch man inside no 10.
Perhaps they'd echo your defence of New Labour - "What choice did we have?"
The Tories get some credit for resisting temptation whilst out of power*. I don't agree with William Hague and IDS on very much. But they at least draw a clear distinction between the roles of government and the media. In decades to come Blair's New Labour will undoubtedly be remembered as light years ahead of the Tories in all departments. Yet things could have been so different had Michael Howard been made party leader in the wake of election defeat. Ditto Michael Portillo - a cast iron certainty until Iain Duncan-Smith, the biggest long-odds runner since Foinavon in the National, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Both Howard and Portillo were quite willing to play the same game as Labour and you can bet neither would have been afforded the ridicule poured so gleefully upon Hague & IDS by the client press.
Given that Cameron was very close to Michael Howard his current methods should come as little surprise.
Both parties now have the chance to distance themselves from Murdoch. Hunt must go because he misled parliament. Cameron should see to it that Murdoch not only is refused permission to own all of Sky but his licence to operate a TV station is rescinded altogether. The question is will he?
Don't be silly. Neither side has any wish to see the demise of the other. There's far too much at stake. Government sanctioned enquiries are finely engineered to portray the illusion that the system is self-cleansing whilst maintaining the status quo. Sure, some people will go to prison. A few ministers will lose their jobs. The police will get a kick in the nuts. But any notions of seeing the Murdochs clapped into irons are wishful thinking. From the evidence we've seen it's patently obvious one hard tug of this thread will result in catastrophic damage to the establishment. And how often has this happened in Britain during the last hundred years?
* Credit should also be given to John Major who sought to back way from Thatcher's cosy relationship with Murdoch - only to be viciously briefed against by the likes of Howard, Portillo etc.
