POWER in Britain shifted back towards elected politicians yesterday and that warrants celebration.
We have been here before but it turned out to be a false dawn. That was in February 2009, when Sir Fred Goodwin of RBS and Andy Hornby of HBOS made abject apologies to the Commons finance select committee over their role in the events leading up to the Government’s bail-out of their ailing institutions. Then, just as the tectonic plates of power seemed about to shift, they were halted by the pressure of opprobrium piled on MPs by the expenses scandal.
Yesterday two other mega-rich, mega-powerful men sat before another Commons select committee, this time culture, media and sport. Arguably Rupert Murdoch is the most powerful media mogul of all time. It is not only the global reach of his newspapers and television stations but how he uses them. While others, the Beaverbrooks and Northcliffes of the world, consistently backed one political viewpoint, Rupert Murdoch switched allegiances on a whim. “It was The Sun wot won it”, was the boast when the Conservatives were re-elected in 1992. And, as he described yesterday, this (albeit republican) kingmaker frequently slipped in and out of the back door of 10 Downing Street to receive the heartfelt thanks of the incumbent. Almost every senior politician considered the Murdochs too powerful to fall out with.
Yesterday at Portcullis House, opposite Parliament, Rupert Murdoch and his son James completed their journey from hubris to humiliation, in front of a bunch of Commons backbenchers. The Select Committee system, introduced by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and now sometimes televised, rarely makes for entertaining viewing. The committees are too large and cumbersome and the questions frequently repetitive. And unlike the more openly combative style of US Senate hearings, the passive aggression of a grilling from a select committee lacks spark. Questions are too easily deflected.
Nevertheless, yesterday’s sitting did carry with it a sense of power being held to account. Labour’s Tom Watson, so often the victim of News International dirty tricks, made most impression. Meanwhile Murdoch Senior brought to mind the Wizard of Oz, finally unmasked as a wizened old man behind a curtain, pulling levers and speaking through microphones. “This is the most humble day of my life,” he said, in an oddly awkward attempt at an apology. Often lost for words, he seemed a spent force, giving the appearance that he knew nothing of the dark deeds happening at the New of the World. Long before a so-called comedian attempted to cover him with shaving foam, Mr Murdoch seemed a rather pathetic figure. His son James had much more to say but conveyed little new information, except to confirm that the original rogue reporter and investigator are having their legal expenses paid by News International. He mostly professed ignorance, rather than accepting culpability, which surely ill-equips him to inherit his father’s mantle at News Corporation. The symbolism of yesterday’s hearing is significant. A dynasty that has grown rich on making others the object of ridicule, has been cut down to size. The tables were turned.
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