Murdoch Is Served (9)

And so it came to pass that the Commons culture, media and sport Select Committee considered their report on Phonehackgate, which I last looked at back in July. But they are not happy about the evidence given by Rupe’s Troops, and so have requested the presence before their good selves of the twinkle-toed yet domestically combative Rebekah Brooks (née Wade).

Ms Wade, now chief executive of News International, may not make her appearance until the New Year, but appear she will. Meanwhile, expect Tory cheerleaders around the blogosphere to either ignore this, or howl “non story” in response. They have good reason to respond thus: Young Dave’s new spinmeister Andy Coulson was editor of the Screws when the initial hacking story broke.

Moreover, Coulson has recently come out of a wrongful dismissal case brought by a former NotW hack very badly indeed: he’s been identified as part of a bullying culture at the paper. As Nick Davies – himself involved in the phone hacking story – has said in Flat Earth News, “Dog doesn’t eat dog”. So it is no surprise that, apart from the Guardian, other papers have managed to ignore the story.

But that’s no guarantee of continuing silence, and a General Election looms. Young Dave is now locked in to being Murdoch friendly – so he’ll just have to hope that this potential IED doesn’t go off.