Leveson inquiry: Rupert Murdoch appears, day one

• Scottish independence is attractive, says Murdoch
• Murdoch: Cameron yacht meeting in August 2008 'normal'
• Brown 'misled people over Sun story about his son'
• 'If politicians want my views they should read Sun editorials'
• I made a mistake over Patten biography, says Murdoch
• Murdoch: I never asked Blair for anything and never called
• I apologise if my papers attacked Kinnock, says Murdoch
• Murdoch: we should have bought MPs' expenses details
Follow Rupert Murdoch's second day of Leveson evidence live
Rupert Murdoch departs the Leveson Inquiry
Rupert Murdoch departs the Leveson inquiry. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
Live blog: recap

5.32pm: We are wrapping up the liveblog for today. Here is a short summary of today's developments:

• Gordon Brown has described as "wholly wrong" an account by Rupert Murdoch of a telephone call between the pair about the former prime minister "declaring war" on News Corporation

• Former Times editor Sir Harold Evans said Murdoch showed "spectacular displays of imagination" in his evidence about a newsroom revolt at the title

• Jeremy Hunt spent five days in the US holding meetings with News Corp at the same point Rupert and James Murdoch were first deciding whether to bid for Sky, official documents reveal

• Rupert Murdoch says he was "as surprised as anyone" that David Cameron hired ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his spin doctor

• Murdoch defends meetings with Cameron on family yachts as "part of the democratic process"

• Prime minister gives Jeremy Hunt full backing as culture secretary's special adviser resigns over the News Corp-BSkyB emails

• Rupert Murdoch has claimed that Gordon Brown wilfully misled people over a Sun story about the former prime minister's son

• Murdoch said Brown was "unbalanced" and had declared war on News Corporation

5.18pm: The Tory MP Louise Mensch has just tweeted:

5.01pm: Former Times and Sunday Times editor Harold Evans has accused News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch of displaying "spectacular displays of imagination" in his testimony at the Leveson enquiry in his account of the takeover of the Times in 1981.

Ben Dowell, who has been reporting on the Leveson inquiry for the Guardian, writes:

Evans, who had led a management buy-out group hoping to acquire the Sunday Times at the time, accuses Murdoch of being disinegenous about his claims that he did not lobby Thatcher at the 1981 lunch he attended at Chequers before he took over the papers. News of the lunch emerged in March when the Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) in Cambridge released documents from the Margaret Thatcher Foundation including a note from Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham about the meeting.

Attacking "the pretense is that Murdoch was afforded a private meeting with the prime minister so she could be briefed on the takeover battle" Evans wrote of the lunch held on January 4 1981: "That's absurd enough, given the coverage in the press and the responsibilities of the Department of Trade. The larger absurdity is that the prime minister's redundant "briefing" is being done by only one bidder, and by one who has an urgent interest in rubbishing his competitors."

In his piece, posted on the Daily Beast website run by his wife Tina Brown, Evans adds:

"We are asked to believe that there was no mention at the lunch of the clear legal requirement for Murdoch's bid to be referred to as the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. The prime minister had a duty to remind him of the laws she had sworn to honor and enforce. Did she not emit at least a polite cough? If she did not, she was uncharacteristically negligent. And if she did murmur something, why did Ingham choose not to record it? Sir Bernard is, alas, unable to help us with anything. He has no memory of the meeting."

4.46pm: Rupert Murdoch has said it was "terribly difficult" to plan the ongoing operation of the Sun following the arrests of several senior journalists at the title in February.

The News Corporation chairman said in his witness statement to the Leveson inquiry that employee morale at the Sun was "dangerously low" after nine former and current journalists were held by police.

The journalists – who have not been charged – were all arrested in dawn raids on 28 January and 11 February following information passed by News Corp's controversial management and standards committee to Scotland Yard.

Murdoch said in his witness statement: "In February 2012, after waves of dawn arrests, our employee morale was dangerously low, and some questioned our commitment to the Sun. Against that background, I decided it was appropriate to launch the Sunday edition, to demonstrate to our employees and our readers our commitment to the Sun and to putting out the best newspaper in Britain, while observing the highest ethical standards.

It was terribly difficult to plan the ongoing operation of the Sun, let alone to consider extending its operations to seven days a week, with key employees under suspension since their arrest. There was no prospect of a charging decision for several months. Therefore, at the same time as launching the Sunday edition, we decided to welcome back those employees who had been suspended. They are innocent until proven guilty and have not, to date, been charged.

He added that he decided to launch the Sun on Sunday to demonstrate his commitment to its daily sister title.

Sun on Sunday The Sun on Sunday. Photograph: John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images

Murdoch told the Leveson inquiry earlier on Wednesday that some News Corp shareholders "would like me to get rid of" the UK newspapers, which includes the Sun, the Sun on Sunday, the Times and the Sunday Times.

4.42pm: Rupert Murdoch has revealed the meetings he has had with education secretary Michael Gove over free schools, reports Jeevan Vasagar here.

News International expressed an interest in applying to set up a free school, after plans to establish an academy in east London fell through, according to Rupert Murdoch's witness statement to the Leveson inquiry.

4.37pm: Alastair Brett, the former Times lawyer, has been referred to the Solicitors Regulation Authority by News International over NightJack, according to Rupert Murdoch's witness statement to the inquiry.

The Times has also disciplined the news editor involved in the controversial 2009 story, which outed detective Richard Horton as the police blogger NightJack after a journalist accessed his email account.

Horton is now suing the Times publisher, Times Newspapers, over the incident.

4.17pm: According to official documents, Jeremy Hunt spent five days in the US holding meetings with News Corp at the same point Rupert and James Murdoch were first deciding whether to bid for Sky, reports the Guardian's David Leigh and Vikram Dodd. The full story can be read here.

Almost immediately after Hunt's trip, James Murdoch visited David Cameron in London, and privately told him that News Corp had agreed to switch support to the Tories in the upcoming election. Hunt then became culture secretary in the victorious Tory government.

4.14pm: Alex Salmond has admitted he planned to lobby Jeremy Hunt to back Rupert Murdoch's takeover of BSkyB only a day after sealing a deal for the Sun's backing of his election campaign, reports the Guardian's Severin Carrell. The full story can be read here.

In a bid to defuse a furious row before Salmond's own appearance at the Leveson inquiry into press standards, the first minister's spokesman confirmed that Salmond booked a call with the culture secretary on 3 March to press the UK government to clear News Corporation's takeover on economic grounds.

4.01pm: Rupert Murdoch says in his witness statement that his UK newspaper group has settled a total of 72 phone-hacking claims as of 10 April 2012.

He says that 20 hacking claims are outstanding and 23 have been accepted into News Corporation's compensation scheme, but notes that "these figures are subject to frequent change".

Murdoch also says in the statement that the recent settlements – which ranged from £40,000 to £75,000 per claimant – have been "at the generous end of the spectrum":

The publicly stated aim of NGN is to resolve genuine voicemail interception claims by settlement wherever possible. NGN has negotiated and settled nearly all of the issued claims made to date (on its own behalf prior to July 2011 and through the MSC on behalf of NGN after July 2011). In those negotiations, NGN has assessed whether or not it is likely that voicemail interception occurred and has accepted liability in principle wherever it is appropriate to do so. Thereafter it has offered compensation to the claimants, which it considers to be very much at the generous end of the spectrum that the Court would be likely to award.

3.59pm: Here's a gallery of yesterday's front pages. Not good reading for Jeremy Hunt.

3.55pm: Campaigning group Avaaz join the NUJ in calling for Jeremy Hunt to resign or to be removed from office.

Executive director Ricken Patel said:

The level of collusion and corruption between the government and the Murdoch mafia is outrageous. Jeremy Hunt was responsible for policing the Murdoch empire, but in fact he was acting as their partner in crime. Today people across Britain are calling on Cameron to fire Hunt. This Murdoch-gate scandal must bring an end to these crooked deals and open a new era where media are properly regulated at arms length.

3.50pm: The Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll has listed Rupert Murdoch's best quotes he gave during today's inquiry hearing.

The silences may have been long – but some of the soundbites certainly made up for them

3.47pm: Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, has called on the culture secretary to resign saying he has "utterly compromised his position and cannot remain in post".

Sacking the servant is not the way to deal with sleaze. The revelations at the Leveson inquiry confirm what many of us have suspected all along – the contact between News International and the minister tasked with deciding the fate of the BSkyB bid was totally inappropriate. Jeremy Hunt has utterly compromised his position and cannot remain in post – he should resign now and have the grace to admit that his contact with James Murdoch was a grave error of judgment and a violation of his quasi-judicial role during the BSkyB bid. James Murdoch may think it's acceptable to indulge in such 'small' mobile call exchanges and emails but providing confidential information to the Murdoch camp is not the proper and fitting way for a minister to conduct business. These revelations should be Hunt's swansong – at least he will have more time to go to the ballet.

Tom Watson, the Labour MP who has written Dial M for Murdoch with Martin Hickman. Tom Watson, the Labour MP who has written Dial M for Murdoch with Martin Hickman. Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian

3.40pm: Peter Wilby has reviewed Dial M for Murdoch by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman, "a gobsmacking account of the problems engulfing News International".

What stands out from this book is the lengths to which NI went to bury the hacking scandal and how, before the revelations in July 2011 that Milly Dowler's phone was hacked, the company nearly got away with it.

3.27pm: Here's some more audio, the Guardian's John Plunkett speaks to colleague Dan Sabbagh and asks him about today's events including Murdoch's claim Brown was 'unbalanced.

3.23pm: Guardian political editor Patrick Wintour has filed this article on how culture secretary Jeremy Hunt dealt with the fallout of the BSkyB deal allegations and Adam Smith's resignation.

In a statement to the Commons, he said it was a matter of great regret that his special adviser Adam Smith had felt forced to resign, but insisted he had known nothing about the "inappropriate" volume and tone of communications between Smith and News Corp.

3.19pm: If you missed Jeremy Hunt's statement to the Commons, here's an audio recording of it.

3.05pm: Guardian's head of media Dan Sabbagh has just tweeted:

Live blog: recap

3.00pm: A short summary from today's developments at the Leveson inquiry:

• Rupert Murdoch says he was "as surprised as anyone" that David Cameron hired ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his spin doctor

• Murdoch defends meetings with Cameron on family yachts as "part of the democratic process"

• Prime minister gives Jeremy Hunt full backing as culture secretary's special adviser resigns over News Corp-BSkyB emails

• Rupert Murdoch has claimed that Gordon Brown wilfully misled people over a Sun story about the former prime minister's son

• Murdoch said Brown was "unbalanced" and had declared war on News Corporation

2.54pm: The inquiry has finished for the day, a little earlier than expected.

Leveson explains: "This is my decision, I think it's more important we take this in a measured way without getting too tired."

2.53pm: Jay then outlines a letter from the then Scottish Sun editor David Dinsmore letter to Salmond on 9 May 2011 after election congratulating him.

Jay says: "It might be said you had an ally in Mr Salmond and Mr Dinsmore was pointing out what News International hoped to achieve in Scotland in the future."

Murdoch replies: "Mr Dinsmore may have gone a little too far in his enthusiasm. I can only tell you as a matter of interest if we didn't continue to support Mr Salmond at this stage I really would have an insurrection up there."

2.49pm: Murdoch describes his relationship with Salmond as "warm".

"He's an amusing guy and I enjoy his company; I enjoy listening to him," he adds.

Jay turns up correspondence released by Salmond's office.

Murdoch's Scottish Sun, which had previously supported Labour, supports SNP in 2011 but is neutral on issue of independence, says Jay. "Was that a decision you contributed to?"

Murdoch: "I don't remember but probably yes."

Why? "Well it's a little emotional, but I am attracted by the idea, but I am not convinced so I said we should stay neutral on the big issue, but let's see how he performs."

But, says Jay, your emotions had taken you to a different place previously, in 2007 you supported Labour? The headline back then said "Vote SNP today and you put Scotland's head in the noose."

Murdoch says "I didn't write that".

He says that the idea of Scottish independence is "a nice idea" and he finds Salmond "an attractive person".

2.48pm: Ben Dowell has also written this article on Rupert Murdoch and the sacking of his former Times editor Harold Evans.

2.43pm: Andrew Sparrow, the Guardian's senior political correspondent, has been covering culture secretary Jeremy Hunt's performance in the Commons in his liveblog.

Jeremy Hunt seems safe - for now. That's my assessment (I may be wrong) and it is based not so much on the quality of Hunt's defence as on the amount of political support he enjoys. David Cameron was, given the circumstances, effusive.

2.41pm: Jay turns to Alex Salmond, the first minister for Scotland. Murdoch snorts "oh" and smiles broadly.

Salmond featured prominently in evidence by James Murdoch yesterday, and it is widely known that Rupert Murdoch is a fan of the minister.

Murdoch has had six meeting with Salmond between May 2007 to the present day, plus four confirmed phone calls.

In one meeting they discussed their Scottish roots, says Jay. Murdoch laughs again. A series of telephone calls followed and in one they discussed Salmond's interest in Scottish independence and – later – News Corp's investment in Scotland. From September 2007, Jay says, there was far more contact with Salmond than previously.

Damian McBride Damian McBride, a former adviser to Gordon Brown when he was PM, Photograph: Graeme Robertson

2.40pm: Former adviser to Brown, Damian McBride has tweeted the following:

2.37pm: Why was the bid announced one month after election, Jay asks?

A long pause. "I don't know I'd have to go and look at my records."

Pure coincidence? "Yes," says Murdoch.

"I don't think we gave any thought to the timing of it except that it would be good to talk to all the directors when they were together."

2.35pm: Ben Dowell, Guardian Media reporter, has filed this article on Rupert Murdoch's views on the Sun's 'we won it' headline.

2.31pm: Murdoch is asked about entering Downing Street via the back door.

He says: "They don't want me to be photographed going in the front. I don't want to … and it happens to be a shortcut to my apartment so it's quite OK. And there is a car park behind 10 and 11."

Jay asks about the 10 May 2010 backdoor meeting, at which Murdoch discloses that Coulson was present.

Was there a link to the BSkyB bid?

"No." says Murdoch.
Did he fear the BSkyB bid would hit choppier waters if Brown won?

"I never gave it any thought. It was a legal bid, I didn't see any problem," he counters.

2.30pm: Guardian political reporter Hélène Mulholland has filed this story on how the PM has backed Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary.

2.28pm: Politicians go "out of their way" to impress people in the press, Murdoch tells Leveson. He describes this as part of the democratic process, adding: "That's the game".

He recognises that politicians want newspapers "to carry their views in a positive way" but again says this is democracy.

"Mr Cameron might have thought stopping in Santorini might impress me. I don't know," he says.

Murdoch adds that he enjoys meeting political leaders and "some of them impress me more than others".

We move on to Murdoch's meeting with Cameron on a family yacht in August 2008. Murdoch says he doesn't remember the meeting, but his wife does.

"Coming back to me vaguely, I checked it with my daughter because he was being flown on my son-in-law's plane on his way to Turkey. She says I in fact met him on her boat. It doesn't matter, there were a couple of boats," says Murdoch.

Was that a wholly normal meeting?

Murdoch says:

Yes. Politicians go out of their way to impress people in the press and I don't remember discussing any heavy political things with him at all. There may have been some issues discussed in passing, it was not a long meeting. I don't really remember the meeting. That's part of the democratic process. All politicians on all sides like to have their views known by the editors or publishers of newspapers hoping they will be put across, hoping they will succeed in impressing people, that's the game.

Certainly they would like us to carry their views in a favourable way. I think that's totally normal. That goes for both parties or all parties. We are very lucky in this country we have 10 vibrant national newspapers to keep the national debate going.

I don't have any fealty to the Tory party or the Labour party. Unlike Mr Barclay I don't get invited to dinner at Downing Street.

2.26pm: Dan Sabbagh, head of media at the Guardian, has written this piece on Murdoch's claims about Gordon Brown.

2.21pm: Robert Jay, counsel to the inquiry, turns to News Corp's bid for BSkyB.

Murdoch says: "I didn't think it was the business of government … I didn't think there was any legal thing at all. The only thing that was worrying me was that the independent directors were driving up the price to something unrealistic, to many many billions of dollars."

Murdoch says he wanted to put BSkyB together with Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland to "make it stronger".

Jay turns back to 1981, when fears were raised that Murdoch was preferentially treated by the government because of the power of his tabloid newspapers.

"I want to put it to bed once and for all, that that is a complete myth … that I used the influence of the Sun or the supposed political power to get favourable treatment," he says.

But there is a perception you "do use your influence impermissibly" says Jay. Don't you agree that's a recurring theme?

Well in the Guardian and maybe the Independent but not everywhere. After a while if these lies are repeated again and again they catch on. If people are resentful they grab on to them. They just aren't true.

2.18pm: Murdoch says he felt "very strongly" about Afghanistan.

I felt very strongly particularly when I came here and saw the photographs of the great young British soldiers who had been wounded and killed, when the charge was being made they weren't being properly protected, I was dissatisified with Mr Cameron's answer that they were as well protected as any other Europeans. Our argument was they should have been as well protected as the Americans.

He later corrects himself - he meant Brown, not Cameron.

2.15pm: Asked about the BBC, Murdoch says: "Prime ministers all hated the BBC and all gave it everything it wanted."

He says top-slicing the BBC was a waste of time, as was talking to politicians about the corporation.

Were you not interested in where he stood on those issues, asks Jay.

Murdoch says: "No. Well ... I wasn't interested in the BBC licence fee. I had been through that with previous prime ministers ... they all hated the BBC and they all gave it whatever they wanted."

He adds: "I have long since become disillusioned, a waste of time to talk to politicians about the BBC. Ofcom? I did not speak to him about that."

Andy Coulson 'I was just as surprised as everybody else' says Murdoch on the appointment of Andy Coulson at No 10. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

2.14pm: Murdoch says he was not in the UK the day the Sun came out in support of the Tories.

He says political support from his newspaper was not motivated by business interests.

He adds: "I could have been like the Telegraph. I could even have texted them every day". This is a reference to evidence by Aidan Barclay, chairman of Telegraph Media Group, on Monday who suggested that David Cameron should have a phone call with the editor of the Telegraph every day during the 2010 election campaign. Barclay also said that he personally texts Cameron.

Asked whether he had conversations with Cameron about his hiring of Andy Coulson, Murdoch says. "No. I was just as surprised as everybody else".

2.08pm: Murdoch is being asked about his relationship with David Cameron, whom he first met in 2005.

Did you think Cameron was a lightweight, asks Jay? "No. Not then, certainly. No. He hasn't had ... I think it's too early to make that judgment."

2.07pm: The inquiry has resumed.

1.14pm: Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian's head of media who is at the Leveson inquiry, has just tweeted:

Live blog: recap

1.10pm: A quick lunchtime summary of Rupert Murdoch's evidence so far:

• Rupert Murdoch has claimed that Gordon Brown wilfully misled people over a Sun story about the former prime minister's son

• Murdoch said that Brown was "unbalanced" and had declared war on News Corporation

• The News Corp chairman admits he made a mistake over blocking publication of Lord Patten's book on Hong Kong

• Murdoch denies trading favours with Tony Blair, including in runup to Iraq war in March 2003

• The Times should have bought MPs' expenses details and should not have published NightJack story, says Murdoch

• Jeremy Hunt's special adviser Adam Smith has resigned over emails to News Corp over BSkyB deal

1.04pm: The inquiry has now broken for lunch. Jay suggest the inquiry may resume for only another 45 minutes at 2pm, before continuing Murdoch's evidence on Thursday morning.

1.02pm: Murdoch said Brown later made a "totally outrageous statement which he had to know was wrong and he called us a criminal organisation".

Murdoch adds:

"He said that we had hacked into his personal medical records when knew very well how the Sun had found out about his son which was very sad".

Murdoch said the Sun had found out about the condition of Brown's son from a "father from the hospital in a similar position" who called the paper.

Murdoch said: "Mrs Brooks immediately snatched it from the news list and she called Mrs Brown and said 'look, this is going to be out there we should be careful how would you like it handled?'

"I don't know if it was one or several days later we published the story and four or five days later Mr Brown wrote a personal letter to Mrs Brooks thanking her for her sensitivity in the way she handled the story. I believe that letter's in the hands of the police."

12.59pm: Murdoch is talking about his relationship with Gordon Brown.

He says it is a "colourful exaggeration" by Kelvin MacKenzie that Brown "roared at [Murdoch] for 20 minutes" after the prime minister was told that the Sun would support a change in governments. He says that himself, James and Rebekah Brooks felt the Labour government had made a lot of mistakes.

He recounts his telephone conversation with Brown: "He [Brown] said, and I must stress no voices were raised, he said: 'well, your company has declared war on my government and we have no alternative to make war on your company. I said 'I'm sorry about that Gordon, thank you for calling' and that was that."

Murdoch claims that Brown was "not in a balanced state of mind" at the time. He then suggests that Brown wilfully misled people when he claimed that the Sun had illicitly obtained the private medical details of his son.

How could he have declared war, asks Jay.

"I don't think he was in a very balanced state of mind, he … frankly, I don't know," says Murdoch.

12.57pm: The Guardian's Kath Viner has just sent this tweet about today's events in parliament:

12.51pm: Murdoch says he remembers going to Chequers because it was where he met JK Rowling.

Did he discuss the option of a snap election, asks Jay. No, says Murdoch.

He says politicians often asked for his opinion. "If he wanted my opinion he only had to read editorials in the Sun."

12.47pm: Jay asks Murdoch whether he had a view as to who should succeed Tony Blair in 2007. Murdoch: "I thought the matter was settled."

Jay says Blair's view was that John Reid could have stood but Murdoch's papers "at Rupert's instigation" had written him off. Murdoch says he liked Reid and "was not aware he was a possible contender for the job".

Murdoch says his personal relationship with Gordon Brown was "always warm before he became prime minister and after".

He adds: "I regret after the Sun came at him ... not so true ... I only hope they can be repaired."

Murdoch is asked about a visit to Chequers, to which he says: "Was that the pyjama party weekend?" and chuckles. It turns out that was a different occasion.

12.42pm: Murdoch denies that he made plain conditions for his papers' support in the 2005 election, but said through his titles that the EU constitution should be put to the people.

In 2005, did you make it a condition of support for Labour that the government holds a referendum on the new EU referendum, asks Jay.

Murdoch replies: "We didn't make any conditions but we certainly expressed the view strongly that the new EU referendum should be put to the people and I don't think we were alone in that."

12.40pm: Murdoch, who earlier said he "never asked Mr Blair for favours", is asked again about his relationship with the former Labour leader: "I met Mr Blair an average of two, sometimes three times in a whole year.

He says:

Not as if there was a constant approach or daily text messages as happens with some newspapers [a reference to the Telegraph and David Cameron in evidence by Aidan Barclay to the inquiry on Monday].

Murdoch confirms his papers backed the Iraq War. Jay says there were three phone calls between Murdoch and Blair in March 2003 in which the issue of the Iraq war "must have been discussed".

"I don't remember the calls – the 11th might have been calling me on my birthday," says Murdoch

12.38pm: More from the Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll on Rupert Murdoch's witness statement. She writes:

News Corporation's internal investigators the Management and Standards Committee is handing over information on hacking at the News of the World to the US authorities, Rupert Murdoch has revealed.

He has told the Leveson inquiry in his witness statement that he is actively co-operating with the US department of justice.

Murdoch says in the statement:

Since July 2011, the MSC, working with a legal team, has actively cooperated with the Metropolitan police as well as with the United States Department of Justice, turning over evidence of alleged or suspected illegality, and responding to all requests for information. This has led to the arrests of a number of NI employees. Our cooperation is continuing to date.

12.34pm: Murdoch is asked about claims he pulled the publication of a book on Hong Kong by Lord Patten.

He admits he did intervene to stop publication of this book by his company HarperCollins:

I did step in and say don't do it, which I wish to say now, was one more mistake of mine. It was clearly wrong

12.32pm: Murdoch's testimony is uncomfortable viewing and reading for the editor of the Times, James Harding, writes the Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll.

Earlier today he told Leveson he was "disappointed" that he hadn't bought the MPs expenses files even though the Times was offered them before the Telegraph which went on to scoop everyone with the scandal.

In his written statement, which has just gone live on the Leveson website, Murdoch also says he is disappointed that the Times published the controversial NightJack story, which unmasked the identity of the anonymous police blogger Richard Horton.

"I am appalled that the lawyer misled the court and disappointed that the editor published the story," he says.

The story hit the headlines this year after it emerged that the reporter had hacked into the blogger's email account to identify him and that the Times had kept this information from the high court when it went to get an injunction preventing it naming Horton overturned.

Murdoch says in his written statement:

I understand that, when the matter was heard by Mr Justice Eady on 4 June 2009, The Times failed to explain how the identity had originally been established and as a result the court was misled. I also understand that the editor, James Harding, has apologised to the blogger, to the court and to the inquiry. I was unaware of this matter until it arose in evidence before the inquiry.

12.28pm: The Leveson inquiry has resumed.

David Cameron at PMQs, April 25. David Cameron at PMQs today. Photograph: BBC Parliament

12.27pm: Over in Westminster, David Cameron says he stands by his culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt.

The Guardian's senior political correspondent, Andrew Sparrow, has recorded the exchange on his blog here.

12.26pm: Before the break, Jay turned to the day in March 1997 when Murdoch endorsed Blair and new Labour. This came a day after Blair wrote an article in the Sun about Europe in highly sceptical tones.

Was Murdoch delighted, he asks? "I don't remember but I would have been," he says.

Jay reads out Andrew Neil's assessment of Murdoch's backing: "I do not believe there was an explicit deal in which the Sun gave its support in return for promises the Labour government would leave Mr Murdoch's empire alone."

Murdoch agrees.

Kay returns to Neil's assessment: "But there was an implicit understanding never openly talked about between the two men."

Murdoch says: "That's not true. He certainly didn't keep to it because he appointed Ofcom with wide powers to interfere with us in every way."

12.19pm: The inquiry is taking a short break.

Andy Davies, the Channel 4 News correspondent, has just tweeted:

12.15pm: More from Campbell's diary, entry 10 March 1997. Jay reads it out: "TB spoke to Irwin Stelzer later who said Murdoch was moving towards supporting us again, for commercial reasons would make clear who they were backing at the start of the campaign."

Murdoch says if Stelzer said that he "certainly had no right to". "I don't know how many times I have to say that, Mr Jay, I never take commercial considerations ..."

Leveson interrupts. He says Stelzer is "not suggesting quite that. He is providing feedback which sounds as though it's accurate that you were moving towards supporting the Labour party, and they would only make clear who they were backing at the start of the campaign. That might be for commercial reasons connected with wanting to sell copies of your newspaper, neither more nor less."

Murdoch says: "That's possible. I thought Mr Jay was putting more sinister motives on it."

Jay says the commercial reasons might have been a reference to future government policy on topics such as media ownership.

12.14pm: The Guardian's Helen Pidd has written some background on the correspondence between Adam Smith and Frédéric Michel.

12.12pm: Murdoch is losing his patience at the subtle "sinister inferences" being put about his relations with politicians.

He raps his hands on the desk, saying: "I, in 10 years he was in power, never asked Mr Blair for anything, nor did I receive any favours"

Jay says the interchange between a sophisticated politician and proprietor would be rather more subtle than that. Murdoch says: "I'm afraid I don't have much subtlety about me."

Don't you Mr Murdoch? "No," he maintains.

Prime Minister Tony Blair Former prime minister Tony Blair 'never called by Rupert Murdoch'. Photograph: PA Photos/PA

12.09pm: Jay asks, weren't you reassured by 1997 Labour manifesto which didn't include any legislation on media ownership?

Murdoch says he doesn't even recall it.

Leveson intervenes and suggests he would have been "very interested" in the policies of a future government and how they would impact on his business.

Murdoch says: "Yes sir, but I wanted to make it quite clear that my commercial interests such as they are never came into any consideration on where we stood on issues or political parties."

Murdoch is referred again to an entry in Alastair Campbell's diary from February 1997.

Murdoch agrees he "hated the idea of a single currency full stop". He says he argued with Blair about it for 10 years. Was Irwin Stelzer Murdoch's "economic guru"?

"No, a friend, someone I enjoy talking to, a fine economist," Murdoch says.

12.07pm: Here's the full story of Jeremy Hunt's adviser Adam Smith resigning by the Guardian's political editor Patrick Wintour.

12.05pm: Jay asks Murdoch if he ever told Blair: "If our flirtation is ever consumated Tony, I suspect we will end up making love like porcupines very, very carefully."

Murdoch says he did say that. Much laughter, including from Rupert's wife, Wendi Deng, in the public gallery.

12.01pm: Jay outlines an account of the dinner reported (but not attended by) Andrew Neil, in which Blair said media regulation would not be onerous under a Labour government and Murdoch said his papers were not wedded to the Tories.

Murdoch was reported to have claimed Blair "said all the right things but we're not letting our pants down just yet".

Murdoch agrees it's the sort of thing he might have said but can't recall the dinner. "A little colourful but it's quite possible I said that".

12.00pm: The inquiry turns its attention to Tony Blair and the rise of New Labour.

Murdoch says it wasn't obvious to him that Blair was going to win the 1997 election. "A lot of things can happen in three years," he adds.

Does he remember a 1994 dinner at Mossiman's (a private dining club in Belgravia) arranged by a News International employee, asks Jay, attended by him and Blair?

"I don't even know where Mossiman's is," says Murdoch.

11.54am: Jay refers to comments made by Lord Heseltine who expressed dismay in 1992 at attempts by politicians to curry favour with media proprietors.

Murdoch says he "never lets commercial considerations" enter into thinking about which political parties his papers back at general elections. He adds that he doesn't know many politicians.

"Our approach to public affairs is to take issues by issues," explains Murdoch.

Are you oblivious to the commercial benefits to your company of a particular political party winning an election?

"Yes, absolutely. I have no commercial interests except the newspapers. I love newspapers," says Murdoch.

Pressed by Jay, Murdoch says "they [shareholders] would like me to get rid of them all [his newspapers]".

11.50am: Does Murdoch always back the winning side, asks Jay?

Murdoch pauses, before saying: "No … I'm trying to think when we didn't". He goes on to refer to the Wall Street Journal's opposition to Barack Obama before the US election.

11.50am: Rupert Murdoch's witness statement has been published on the Leveson inquiry website.

In the statement, Murdoch says Tony Blair telephoned him – not the other way round – three times in the runup to the Iraq war in March 2003.

He says:

As for the three telephone calls with the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, in 2003, I cannot recall what I discussed with him now, nine years later, or indeed even if I spoke with him at all. I understand that published reports indicate that calls were placed by him to me. What I am sure about is that I would not in any telephone call have conveyed a secret message of support for the war; the NI titles' position on Iraq was a matter of public record before 11 March 2003.


In another passage, Murdoch recalls his meetings with British prime ministers, past and present.

He writes:

I can say that, to the best of my memory, these meetings were typically initiated either by the politician or by a third party. It is simply not possible for me now to recount with any precision what was discussed at any particular meeting, although I have noted above some of the topics I am confident we did discuss. However, I am by nature a curious person and am sure we discussed additional topics. What I can say is that, typically, the prime ministers have been interested in discussing their views about challenges facing the country (and them) and how the government plans to address them; issues and conditions facing other countries and how leaders in those countries are addressing them; and, News Corporation's views or my personal views on what is going on around the globe.

He adds:

As I indicated earlier, Mrs Thatcher was not one for much personal conversation; I simply do not recall meetings with Mr Major; Mr Blair always spoke with enthusiasm about the new Labour Party's approach to the challenges facing our country and was equally curious about what economic and social trends we at News Corporation were seeing in our global businesses; Mr Brown and I shared some personal background and also discussed the challenges facing Britain; and Mr Cameron, since his election as Prime Minister, and I have met principally in social settings, where little of substance was discussed. I do recall that, shortly after his election, Mr Cameron invited me in for tea at No 10 Downing Street, he thanked me for the support of our papers; I congratulated him and told him that I was sure our titles would watch carefully and report whether he kept all of his campaign promises. The meeting lasted at most 20 minutes. I have otherwise provided what I can remember about meetings with Prime Ministers in my answers above.

The Sun wot won it? The Sun, from Saturday 11 April 1992

11.47am: Jay turns to Kelvin MacKenzie's 1992 Sun front page, "It was the Sun wot won it," claiming credit for John Mayor's election win.

Did you appreciate it, asks Jay? "No, I understand Mr MacKenzie said I gave him a terrible bollocking. My son who is here today says I did indeed give him a hell of a bollocking."

Jay suggests he wouldn't have liked it because it would have suggested newspapers were powerful and anti-democratic.

"Anti-democratic is too strong a word," says Murdoch. "It was tasteless and wrong for us. We don't have that sort of power."

11.46am: In Andrew Neil's book the then Sunday Times editor recalls a conversation in which Murdoch told him "We owe Thatcher a lot as a company, don't go overboard in your attacks on her".

Murdoch says he has "no memory" of the conversation. Did he say it? "I don't think so."

11.45am: The Sunday Times supported Michael Heseltine in 1990, the decision of editor Andrew Neil, says Jay. But your four other titles supported Mrs Thatcher?

"The Sun and the News of the World did. I don't remember where the Times was. I certainly don't remember it coming out for Michael Heseltine."

11.42am: Murdoch says it is "only natural for politicians to reach out to editors and sometimes proprietors if they are available to explain what they are doing and hoping that it makes an impression. I was only one of several ..."

11.40am: Jay quotes Lord Wyatt who suggests Thatcher told Murdoch that "she knows how much she depends on your support. Likewise you depend on her."

"I have no memory of that. If I'm right he was writing this many years after. I wouldn't put too much weight on Lord Wyatt's fantasies," says Murdoch.

"He always believed he was close to Mrs Thatcher, I don't believe she had that much time on her hands."

He adds:

Mrs Thatcher had much more than me supporting her in the press, other big newspapers. Editorials don't get read by that much many people. There was the Daily Telegraph, which even then was the mouthpiece of the Tory party, the Daily Mail.

11.33am: Jay turns to the night of the general election, 1987. When Ken Livingstone blamed smears in the media for Labour's defeat, Rupert was reported to have cried out "That's me!"

"If I said that I'm afraid it was the influence of alcohol ... a stupid light-hearted remark."

11.31am: "If there were personal attacks on Mr Kinnock I would apologise for them, I don't really remember them," says Murdoch. "It was fair to attack his policies and even sometimes the way he expressed himself."

11.31am: On to Neil Kinnock's Labour party. Do you regret any of those attacks? Murdoch doesn't really remember them, but the front page on the day of the election – last person to turn the lights out and all that – was "brilliant".

11.30am: Leveson points out he's not answering his question, and asks it again.

"There is a difference, it's a difficult subject," says Murdoch.

He doesn't really answer the question for a second time.

11.29am: Leveson has something to say on privacy. "You don't see a distinction, Mr Murdoch, between politicians and you might say newspaper proprietors and you might even include judges – I'd have to think about that – as those who are held out as exercising positions of influence, and on the other hand someone who is famous because they are a good actor or a film star or who have written a book?"

Murdoch says: "I really welcomed, I was jealous, of the Daily Telegraph buying all the personal expense accounts ... of members of parliament. I think the Sunday Times followed later with members of the House of Lords. I thought that was a great public service.

I'm disappointed the editor of the Times didn't buy them when they were offered to him first. The DPP decided that was in the public interest and not something to prosecute.

11.28am: Murdoch says the suggestion that tabloids are only interested in scandal and titilation is an "over statement".

"We are not perfect, I am not saying we are, but we are nothing to what you see on the internet every day, which I might say has an ever growing following."

11.25am: Murdoch says: "I don't believe in using hacking, in using private detectives or whatever, that's a lazy way of reporters not doing their job. But I think it is fair when people have themselves held up as iconic figures or great actors that they be looked at. Sometimes, we just did an example of it, Simon Cowell, he wanted to tell it all himself.

A lot of these people are very big in the lives of ordinary people, big television stars, film stars, and, of course, I must include politicians. If we are getting into the issue of privacy, people with public responsibilities I would even include press proprietors in that, I don't think they are entitled to the same privacy as the ordinary man in the street. If we are going to have a transparent society let's have everything out there.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt leaves his office Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt's adviser Adam Smith has resigned. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

11.23am: Here is Adam Smith's resignation statement in full:

While it was part of my role to keep News Corporation informed throughout the BSkyB bid process, the content and extent of my contact was done without authorisation from the secretary of state. I do not recognise all of what Fréd Michel said, but nonetheless I appreciate that my activities at times went too far and have, taken together, created the perception that News Corporation had too close a relationship with the department, contrary to the clear requirements set out by Jeremy Hunt and the permanent secretary that this needed to be a fair and scrupulous process. Whilst I firmly believe that the process was in fact conducted scrupulously fairly, as a result of my activities it is only right for me to step down as special adviser to Jeremy Hunt.

11.21am: Jay continues on the theme of influence over editors. Rebekah Brooks told a House of Lords committee that Murdoch knew her pretty well and would be aware of her views. "Did you know Rebekah Brooks's social, cultural and political views before you were appointed her?"

Murdoch: "I certainly knew a lot of them, yes."

11.19am: Adam Smith, the special adviser to Jeremy Hunt whose emails and texts to a News Corp executive about the BSkyB bid were published yesterday by the Leveson inquiry, has resigned.

The Guardian's political editor Patrick Wintour has just tweeted:

11.10am: Did he have any role in the publication of the Hitler diaries in 1983? "I'm sorry to say, yes," says Murdoch.

Was Lord Dacre beginning to express doubts about authenticity and you overruled him?

"A very small part of the story," says Murdoch. "When it got very closer to publication people were debating it, Lord Dacre did show doubts. A majority of us felt we should go ahead, I take full responsibility for it, it was a major mistake and one I shall have to live with for the rest of my life."

The inquiry takes a break.

11.10am: What about on general election policy and Europe? "I am a curious person who is interested in the great issues of the day and I am not good at holding my tongue."

11.09am: "I'm not disowning it or saying it wasn't my responsibility but I was always closer to the Sun. It was a daily paper ..."

11.09am: "I never interfered with the News of the World I'm sorry to say," he adds.

11.07am: On the influence he wields over his newspapers, Murdoch says: "I never gave instruction to the editor of the Times or Sunday Times. Sometimes when I was available on a Saturday I would say what's the news today, out of idle curiousity perhaps."

He says he might also ring on a Tuesday to say it was a "damn fine newspaper".

11.05am: Murdoch denies he was "one of the main powers" behind Margaret Thatcher's leadership.

Did you consult regularly with her on every important matter of policy? "Certainly not," says Murdoch.

11.04am: Murdoch on the Sun's mission statement: "Always to tell the truth, to interest the public, to get their attention, but always to tell the truth ... I have great respect for the British public, I try to carry that through."

Jay turns back to the memoirs of former Sunday Times editor Sir Harold Evans.

Murdoch says he has never read the book.

Jay quotes a passage from the Evans book which recounts how he, as editor of the Times, was sacked. According to book, Rupert Murdoch met the paper's home news editor, a Fred Emery, on 4 March 1982 and said "I give instructions to my editors all over the world – why shouldn't I in London?".

Murdoch does not recognise this account of the meeting. He adds that the "nearest thing I came to instruction" was to say to Evans "please be consistent … don't switch sides every day".

He adds: "If you want to judge my thinking, look at the Sun".

10.57am: Murdoch says he bought the Sun because the rival Daily Mirror ran a leader saying "we want to get rid of the elves" which he characterises as "putting down" its working-class readership.

Asked whether he thinks standards have improved in British tabloid newspapers since 1968, Murdoch says: "The Sun has never been a better newspaper than it is today. I couldn't say the same for my competitors but we won't go into that."

He adds:

In 1968 when I came here I didn't have enough to do with the News of the World, that was my fault. In 1974 we were carried away by the success of the Sun, we said let's try in America, it did very badly. We took our eye off the Sun. It was not a continuous thing throughout that period.

10.56am: Lord Justice Leveson interjects. He asks:

You have been on the world stage for many years, you have seen many editors come and go, your press interests have extended. It wouldn't be at all surprising if those who worked for you recognised that you had an appreciation of events that it would be important for them to understand and they should therefore take a different line only with caution?

Murdoch: "I would hope so. Our editors have generally been very long serving."

Leveson says he wasn't suggesting there had been a big turnover of editors. It ends there.

10.53am: Jay is reading extracts from the memoirs of Sir Harold Evans, the former long-serving Sunday Times editor.

Jay asks about the management style of the media mogul.

We have a very nice company and I run that company with a great deal of decentralisation. I don't think I have any aura.

Are you not the Sun King, asks Jay?

Murdoch replies: "I try very hard to set an example of ethical behaviour and I make clear I expect it. Aura or charisma? I don't think so."

Jonathan Aitken Former Conservative cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

10.51am: Murdoch is asked about comments about his media empire made by Jonathan Aitken. He dismisses this with a shake of the head, muttering: "Oh, well".

Jay asks: Do you openly push your commercial interests in your newspapers?

Murdoch: "No, I take a particularly strong pride in the fact that we have never pushed our commercial interests in our newspapers"

10.44am: Jay is exploring the protracted bid-making process for the Times newspapers in the early 1980s.

The Leveson counsel puts it to Murdoch that he lobbied government ministers that there would be "real commercial disadvantages" to referring his bid to the media mergers commission.

Jay says:

With Mrs Thatcher you were impressing on her your qualities ... with Mr [John] Biffen on 26 January, although you didn't put a gun to his head and say if you refer I back out, you far more subtly suggested there were real commercial disadvantages if he did refer and unsurprisingly in cabinet that line was taken. Would you agree?

Murdoch replies: "Not really. That seems to be a fair reading but frankly it was Thomsons who put the gun to the head of Mr Biffen."

Murdoch said the Thomson organisation had lost a 12-month strike and had become "very, very embittered".

10.41am: Dan Sabbagh, head of media at the Guardian, has tweeted:

10.37am: The Sky News correspondent Joey Jones has just tweeted:

10.36am: The Guardian's Lisa O'Carroll at the Leveson inquiry has sent this tweet:

10.35am: Jay asks about the influence proprietors have over editors and their newspapers.

Murdoch pauses, rests his elbow on the desk with his chin on his fist and answers: "Yes, but sometimes it's overestimated."

He adds:

Let's face it - if an editor is sending a newspaper broke it is the responsibility of the proprietor to step in for the sake of the journalists, for the sake of everybody ... and particularly his responsibility to his many thousands of shareholders.

10.32am: Jay asks Murdoch about the Times' newspapers financials.

Murdoch says:

It had a great position on Sunday but its economics and staff were all intertwined together with the Times, which resulted in a big net loss.

Jay suggests he wouldn't have been so "cack-handed" to have asked outright for favours.

He says he has never asked a prime minister for anything, including Thatcher. He says that notes by Bernard Ingham will confirm this. "I hope they will be put on the web," he adds.

Murdoch says he was "a little slow in writing to thank her" for the lunch.

Margaret Thatcher Rupert Murdoch admits he was on the same page politically as Margaret Thatcher. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex Features

10.30am: Jay asks: "President elect Reagan, Baroness Thatcher and you were all on the same page politically weren't you?"

Murdoch: "I guess that's true."

Was part of that meeting to demonstrate how much you were "one of us" to use Mrs Thatcher's term? "No," says Murdoch.

Asked why it was important for Thatcher to have a meeting with him about the possible takeover, Murdoch says it was "perfectly right that she should know what was at stake".

Wasn't the meeting all about the trade unions, asks Jay?

Murdoch: "I didn't have the will to crush the unions, I might have had the desire but that took several years."

10.23am: Murdoch is asked about the bidding process for the Times and Sunday Times in 1981.

Like his appearance before MPs last year, early indications are that Murdoch's evidence will be punctuated by (occassionally very) long pauses.

Murdoch met Margaret Thatcher for a lunch on 4 January 1981, Jay says. Murdoch doesn't recall the details of the lunch, but maintains that the meeting was "quite appropriate" because it concerned the possible takeover of a "great economic asset".

10.18am: Murdoch confirms he became – and remains – a great admirer of Baroness Thatcher after she was re-elected as British prime minister in 1983.

He refers to the strikes and says: "I think we all wanted change".

Jay turns to recent tweets by Murdoch, including one in which he referred to "right-wingers and toffs".

Murdoch replies: "Don't take my tweets too seriously … people on all sides were piling in on me".

10.15am: Robert Jay, counsel to the inquiry, says that approximately 8% of News Corp's revenue is generated in the UK.

Rupert Murdoch says he has been following British politics "with various intensity" for many decades. He says it is "untrue" that he wants to punish David Cameron for setting up the Leveson inquiry.

Murdoch says:

The need is obvious. There has been some abuses shown. I would say there are many other abuses but we can go to that in time. The state of media in this country is of vital interest to its citizens. I welcome the opportunity because I wanted to put certain myths to bed.

He adds that the issues "go further" than phone hacking.

10.12am: Rupert Murdoch has been sworn in, confirming his name as "Keith Rupert Murdoch".

10.08am: The inquiry has begun.

Wendi Deng, the wife of Rupert Murdoch, and Joel Klein, the senior News Corp lawyer, are among Rupert's entourage in the public gallery.

10.02am: The BBC's Peter Hunt has just tweeted:

9.56am: Rupert Murdoch has arrived at the high court, and the Leveson inquiry room – court 73 – is filling up.

The Channel 4 News home affairs correspondent, Andy Davies, has just tweeted:

9.55am: Roy Greenslade has dissected what the national newspapers say this morning about the Murdochs and Jeremy Hunt.

Greenslade writes:

Each quality national has piled the pressure on the culture secretary with accusatory front-page headlines and damning editorials.

Read the full article here.

9.51am: Good morning and welcome to the Leveson inquiry live blog.

Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, will today give evidence under oath for more than five hours on his private relations with a succession of prime ministers and cabinet ministers.

Murdoch will face questions on his role in attempting to smooth the way for News Corp's attempted takeover of BSkyB, aborted at the height of the phone-hacking scandal in June last year. The 81-year-old media mogul is likely to be pressed on his contacts with David Cameron and the Conservative party during the period when the government had judicial oversight of the £8bn takeover.

Murdoch, who entered the British media market in 1968 with the purchase of the News of the World, is also likely to be asked whether failures in corporate governance led to an alleged cover-up of phone hacking at the now-closed Sunday tabloid.

Murdoch's testimony, which could run on until tomorrow, follows yesterday's revelatory evidence by his elder son James. The Leveson inquiry published a tranche of emails that appear to show News Corp was secretly passed detailed and confidential information about Hunt's thinking on the BSkyB bid at a time when the culture secretary was acting in a quasi-judicial role over the merger.

Nick Davies, the Guardian journalist who exposed the phone-hacking scandal, has listed a series of questions Rupert Murdoch must answer today.

The inquiry begins at 10am.

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