Rupert Murdoch summonsed to appear before MPs

[oldironside]

"MPs have dispatched the deputy serjeant at arms of the House of Commons to Wapping to deliver a summons in person to Rupert Murdoch and his son James to insist they turn up to give evidence to a select committee over the phone- hacking scandal.

John Whittingdale, the chairman of the culture, media and sport committee, outlined the measures being taken to ensure the Murdochs face MPs to answer questions in light of allegations of illegal practices that have to come to light in recent days."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/14/phone-hacking-rupert-murdoch-summonsed-appear-mps

Oh, how beautiful! How delicious! Instead of Murdoch summoning the PM to his presence, Parliament has issued a diktat to Rupert. It was Jim Callaghan who said a week is a long time in politics. How right you were, Jim. How right you were.

How does it feel, Rupert? It certainly can't be comfortable.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Attributed to Wilson, not Callaghan

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harold_Wilson

But you're right, this is good to see. Will Rupert be forced to flee the country? Will he leave his boy (who has said he'd appear, but wants a date a few weeks later) to face the music?

[oldironside]

2. Ah, yes.

Callaghan was "I see no signs of a mounting crisis." which the Sun published as "Crisis? What crisis?" Nice to see they were as concerned with journalistic accuracy even then.

With regards to Rupert and James' future, I think a lot of it will be decided in the States. Parliament can't force them to appear because they are US citizens. It would be interesting to see if it did come to a trial whether the Yanks would hand them over. Of course, if it continues to gain traction over there that could be academic.

[fedsron2us]

3. Murdoch can probably dodge testifying to Parliament

but he may not find any US investigation so easy to avoid. He also has to explain himself to some very angry NewsCorp institutional investors who will want to know why he has risked billions in corporate earnings by allowing a few barely profitable UK papers to run out of control.

As for NI senior UK employees they must be praying no evidence of NI hacking of US citizens comes to light otherwise the may risk being extradited to the US to face charges. It is possible that top Murdoch cronies could wind up doing the Perp walk.

[oldironside]

4. At the moment...

... the Mirror's story seems to be so much hot air, but I find it inconceivable that they weren't, at the very least, hacking US celebrities. How many Lindsay Lohan scoops did they get? And that has got to come to light, if only because said celebs crave attention.

[oldironside]

5. For anyone having trouble...

... keeping up, John Oliver and John Stewart provided a summary of the phone hacking scandal. I still find my jaw dropping at the Milly Dowler revelation.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-july-11-2011/have-no-fear--england-s-here

Best quote?
"Yes, the man who got car head from an LA road prostitute is now the moral compass of my nation."