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May 23rd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - MP claims former prime minister Gordon Brown called him to tell him of attempted intervention
- ‘It’s not the sort of thing a backbench MP would forget too easily’
- He claims he was put under surveillance by News of the World journalists following a false tip he had been having an affair with a female politician
By
Daily Mail Reporter
08:44 EST, 22 May 2012
|
08:44 EST, 22 May 2012
Labour MP Tom Watson today stood by his claim that media mogul Rupert Murdoch tried to halt his anti-phone hacking campaign by asking Tony Blair to ‘call him off’.
Mr Watson told the ongoing Leveson Inquiry into press ethics that former prime minister Gordon Brown phoned him in late 2010 or early 2011 to inform him about Mr Murdoch’s request to Mr Blair.
He said he distinctly remembered the call, which he took on his mobile phone while stood on a hill on the edge of the Peak District.
Campaigner: Labour MP Tom Watson at today’s Leveson Inquiry hearing
He said: ‘It’s not the sort of thing a backbench MP would forget too easily’.
‘It was within a wider conversation, but I noted it.’
Claim: Mr Watson repeated his claim that Tony Blair (pictured earlier this week) was behind attempts to stop him pursuing his anti-hacking agenda
The idea that News Corporation boss Mr Murdoch was intervening ‘seemed implausible back then, but certainly seem more plausible day by day’.
Mr Watson spearheaded the campaign to investigate allegations of phone hacking, which provoked widespread public disgust when it emerged the now defunct News of the World hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
As well as more than 40 arrests, the scandal has led to the departure of News International CEO Rebekah Brooks and James Murdoch’s resignation as chairman from BSkyB.
The claim of the phone call, which Mr Watson has previously made in his book Dial M For Murdoch, has been denied by Mr Murdoch and Mr Blair, while Mr Brown says he cannot remember the conversation.
Mr Watson, a member of the House of Commons’ influential culture, media and sport select committee, claimed there had been a feeling News International had ‘unique access to Downing Street’.
The former junior minister at the Ministry of Defence said the News International newspapers were ‘the ones that had the connections and everyone was aware of it’.
‘As a minister when I discussed issues and policy there was always a conversation about how this would play out in The Sun,’ he said.
‘There was a sense that there was a mystique about the News International stable, that they had unique access to Downing Street, and as a minister that was important, and the way you were portrayed in News International papers was important and they factored that into their thinking.’
‘Call him off’: Tom Watson, pictured arriving at today’s Leveson Inquiry hearing with a friend, claims News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch personally intervened to try and stop the MP’s anti-hacking campaign
Mr Watson claimed he was put under surveillance by News of the World journalists following a false tip that he had been having an affair with a female politician.
He said he had seen an email trail showing Mazher Mahmood, the paper’s ‘Fake Sheikh’, and other executives put together a ‘team to conduct convert surveillance’ in 2009.
They wrongly believed Mr Watson was having an affair with a woman and ‘creeping into her hotel’ while the Labour Party conference in Brighton was held.
News International said the surveillance was ordered purely to establish whether the tip was genuine and nothing to do with Mr Watson’s membership of the culture, media and sport select committee.
The media firm’s management and standards committee turned over the emails to the parliamentary committee.
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Tom Watson certainly likes the sound of his own voice but let he who is blameless cast the first stone. Just take a look at his expense claims especially for food and I think that says it all.
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I would find it hard to believe Tom Watson he appears to be carrying out a witch hunt.
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Never trust a person with a personal vendetta, Watson especially.
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Odious little man who is desperately trying to flog his book.
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Given this mans conduct during the expenses scandal, we should beleive him why?
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I said in a post a couple of weeks ago that blair has had more involvement with murdoch than has been reported. He is, after all, godfather to one of murdochs daughters.
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I wonder if Tony BLiar still thinks it’s a good time to come back into British Politics. Want to get his nose back in the Trough. After listerning to Mr (we never did any thing wrong) CAMPBELL at the Leveson Inquiry I get the impression he is still very very shady with the truth.
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This happened under Labour’s watch, and a full report was furnished in 2006. How come everybody else is being made to look guilty?
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But Blair and Brown had nothing to do with Murdoch, dig deeper it will come to the surface!!
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Tom Watson a rare breed! So sad this country has been and still is run by a bunch of spivs!
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