Leveson inquiry: James Murdoch stands by hack email denial ‎

James Murdoch insisted again today that he was not originally told of evidence suggesting phone hacking was widespread at the News of the World. The media mogul repeated his denial of claims that the paper's then-editor and legal manager informed him of the "For Neville" email, which appeared to contradict the previous stance that the illegal practice was confined to a single "rogue reporter". Mr Murdoch suggested News of the World executives may have been reluctant to tell him about the extent of hacking for fear he would have ordered them to "cut out the cancer". In evidence under oath to the Leveson Inquiry, he maintained his stance that in 2008 he was not shown the "For Neville" email, which contained transcripts of intercepted voicemails apparently intended for the paper's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck. He again disputed the evidence of former News of the World editor Colin Myler and legal manager Tom Crone that they informed him of allegations that hacking was "rife" at the paper. Mr Murdoch referred to notes of a phone call about the problem between Mr Myler and external solicitor Julian Pike on May 27, 2008, which concluded: "James wld say get rid of them - cut out cancer." He told the inquiry: "This is something I have struggled with as well, which is, why wouldn't they just come and tell me. "I was a new person coming in, this was an opportunity to actually get through this. "I think that must be it, that I would say, 'cut out the cancer', and there was some desire not to do that." Mr Myler and Mr Crone say they showed Mr Murdoch the "For Neville" email at a meeting on June 10, 2008 to discuss settling a civil claim brought by Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor over claims the News of the World hacked his phone. In the end Mr Murdoch approved a confidential out-of-court settlement with Mr Taylor for £425,000 plus costs. Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked whether Mr Myler and Mr Crone discussed the potential damage to News of the World publisher News International's reputation if the case went to a public trial. Mr Murdoch replied: "It was referred to that it would be in the best interests of the business not to have this matter from the past, from a few years ago, dug up and dragged through the court. "But it was more in the spirit of that here was an issue that happened a few years ago, it's all in the past now, it's all finished, and we don't want to have to go through that again." But Mr Jay suggested: "The point was that this was new, that the Gordon Taylor litigation would create the possibility, indeed the probability, of fresh reputational damage to the company because it involved others at News International." Mr Murdoch replied: "I follow your question, but that is not what I was told at the time." The media boss was also asked about a chain of emails sent to him by Mr Myler on June 7, 2008, which contained warnings that Mr Taylor had evidence that at least one other News of the World journalist was involved in hacking. He said he received the message on a Saturday, when he was with his young children and had just got back from Hong Kong, and replied to it within minutes without reading the full email. Claims that hacking was widespread at the News of the World arose again in a July 2009 Guardian article. Mr Murdoch said he asked his executives about the rival newspaper's allegations, but was told "that it wasn't true, that there was no other evidence, that this has been investigated to death and this is a smear". But he admitted it is now clear that News International failed to pick up on the legal risks posed by its papers' methods of finding stories. He told the inquiry: "Knowing what we know now about the culture at the News of the World in 2006 - well, at least that we know about the alleged widespread nature of these poor practices - it must have been cavalier about risk, and that is a matter of huge regret." Murdoch denies storming in to newspaper office James Murdoch has denied "storming" into the Independent's newsroom to confront its editor over a poster campaign featuring his father. But the media mogul admitted using "colourful language" when he confronted the newspaper's former editor-in-chief Simon Kelner over what he saw as a personal attack on his father. The Leveson Inquiry heard that the campaign in 2010 featured billboards that read: "Rupert Murdoch won't decide this election - you will." James Murdoch told the inquiry he had been visiting Associated Newspapers - based in the same building as the Independent - and decided to visit Mr Kelner to voice his concerns over the campaign. "I was upset and concerned because the Independent had not run an article about this but had put up a load of giant billboards around England that I had seen pictures of, with the message 'Rupert Murdoch won't decide this election'. "I thought they were really personalising an agenda against my father and my family that I found inappropriate." He said he found himself in the middle of the newsroom, due to a lack of a reception or front desk, but had not intended to. He said he asked Mr Kelner to speak to him and they went into an office, where he raised his concerns, adding: "Whether or not I used colourful language I wouldn't dispute." But he denied there was any "storming". He said: "I was certainly upset because Mr Kelner had been availing himself of the hospitality of my family for years and I thought it was beyond the pale and not a decent way to go about his business." Tweeting after the evidence, Mr Kelner rejected Mr Murdoch's claims, saying: "Have never once been to a Murdoch summer or Christmas party. Unlike most of the political or media establishment." end Murdoch had dozen meetings with Cameron before election Beleaguered media mogul James Murdoch has told the Leveson Inquiry that he met David Cameron 12 times while he was leader of the opposition, including four meetings also attended by Rebekah Brooks. He also said he had briefly talked to Mr Cameron at a dinner about the removal of Business Secretary Vince Cable's powers to oversee News Corporation's bid to take over broadcaster BSkyB. Mr Murdoch had drinks with the Tory leader in September 2009 to discuss The Sun's plans to endorse the Conservative Party at the following year's general election, the press standards inquiry was told. He also met Chancellor George Osborne and Foreign Secretary William Hague during the Tories' time in opposition. Between June 2006 and January 2010, Mr Murdoch met Mr Cameron eight times for dinner, twice for breakfast, once for lunch and once for drinks. Mrs Brooks attended meetings between the media boss and the Conservative leader on May 5 2009, November 2 2009, November 19 2009 and January 21 2010. After Mr Cameron entered Number 10 in May 2010, Mr Murdoch and his family had lunch with him at the Prime Minister's country retreat, Chequers in Buckinghamshire, in November 2010. Mrs Brooks and her husband, Charlie, hosted a dinner attended by the media mogul and Mr Cameron on December 23 2010. This was two days after Mr Cable was stripped of his responsibilities for regulating the media after he was caught on tape by undercover reporters claiming to have "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire. James Murdoch told the Leveson Inquiry that he and Mr Cameron mentioned what had happened. "He reiterated what he had said publicly, which is that the behaviour had been unacceptable, and I imagine I expressed the hope that things would be dealt with in a way that was appropriate and judicial," he said. "It was a tiny conversation ahead of a dinner where all these people were there, so it wasn't really a discussion." The inquiry heard that Mr Murdoch had lunch at Chequers with Tony Blair when he was prime minister in July 2004. He also held a conference call with Mr Blair in October 2005 during which he may have discussed European Commission proposals for regulating broadcasting rights for English Premier League football. Mr Murdoch said: "It was a normal and appropriate or legitimate bit of business advocacy... "The purpose would be hopefully for senior policy-makers, the prime minister in this case, to understand that some of these policies might have adverse consequences for English football." Mr Murdoch had two meetings at 10 Downing Street with then-prime minister Gordon Brown in March and December 2008. He said he could not remember exactly what was discussed, adding: "He would have told me lots of things about the economy and the like." Mr Murdoch confirmed he was "friendly" with Mr Osborne and had once visited the Chancellor's grace and favour house, Dorneywood in Buckinghamshire, with his family. He said he had one discussion with Mr Osborne about News Corp's bid to take over BSkyB, which was eventually dropped last July after a public outcry over the revelation that the News of the World hacked murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone. Mr Murdoch said his conversation about the proposed buy-out of the satellite broadcaster with the Chancellor "would have just been to be grumpy about it taking a long time and being referred to (regulator) Ofcom, which I was very clear in public about at the same time". Murdoch admits to corporate failings at News International Earlier in the proceedings Murdoch conceded that News International's corporate systems failed to pick up on legal risks posed by its papers' methods of finding stories. The media boss also told the Leveson Inquiry into press standards that the News of the World should not have run its story falsely alleging that former Formula 1 boss Max Mosley had a "sick Nazi orgy". Mr Murdoch, 39, became executive chairman of News International when he took over his father's media empire in Europe and Asia in December 2007. He was questioned about changes to the management culture he sought to introduce at the publisher. Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked him: "In your view, were there deficiencies in News International's systems for identifying and assessing legal risk, particularly in the context of potential reputational harm for the company?" Mr Murdoch said: "With respect to news-gathering processes, for example, one of the subjects of interest here, I think it's self-evident that in hindsight, knowing what we know now, whatever controls were in place failed to create the sufficient transparency around those issues and the risks around it ... "At the time I didn't have a view that those were insufficient or not." Mr Mosley was awarded a record £60,000 in privacy damages at the High Court over the March 2008 News of the World story about his sex life. Mr Murdoch agreed that News International also had to pay "substantial" costs, which he said was a "cause for concern". "The story shouldn't have been run," he told the inquiry. The News of the World was closed down last July after revelations that it listened to the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. Mr Murdoch said the Sunday tabloid - Britain's top-selling paper - "had a connection with its readers" and was popular with them and with advertisers. But he added: "In the end the profitability of the News of the World did not save it." Mr Murdoch told the inquiry he had been given "assurances" that measures were put in place to ensure journalistic standards were met. "I was assured that from a standpoint of journalistic ethics and things like the Editors' Code and the PCC Code that extensive training had gone on and was continually going on and I was given strong assurances that this had happened." But he said ethical and legal risks at the News of the World were "very much in the hands of the editor", and he was "not in the business of deciding what to put in newspapers". Asked about phone hacking at the now-defunct tabloid, Mr Murdoch said he stood by his evidence given to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in July and November last year, saying he had not seen the now-notorious "For Neville" email. "That remains my position, I stand by that testimony," he said. He said he had been assured by former editor Colin Myler and then human resources director Daniel Cloke that hacking was not widespread. Asked by counsel for the inquiry Robert Jay QC if he knew the problem was more extensive than just one reporter, Mr Murdoch said: "No, to the contrary. The assurances that I was given were the same assurances that were given to the Select Committee - that the paper had been investigated thoroughly, no new evidence was found, that the police had closed the case and had made public announcements to that effect." He said he had a "general awareness that a reporter had illegally intercepted voicemails, had gone to jail along with the private investigator involved". "It was a general understanding of an event in the past." 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