- Former PM became 'incredibly aggressive and angry' after front page story about spelling mistakes in letter to mother of dead soldier
- Quizzed over claims that Tony Blair fed her damaging stories about Brown
- Admits David Cameron, George Osborne, William Hague, Theresa May and Tony Blair sent her messages of support after she quit in wake of phone hacking scandal
- But Brown would have 'hung out the bunting' at the news she says
- Cameron apologised for cutting her loose and said: 'Sorry I couldn’t have been as loyal to you as you have been to me, but Ed Miliband has me on the run'
- The pair 'signed off messages to each other with kisses'
- Met Tony Blair 30 times for dinner between 1997 and 2007
- Cherie Blair complained about 'sexist' coverage and 'cruelty' about weight
- Sun had 'consent' from Browns to run story about son having cystic fibrosis
By Rick Dewsbury
PUBLISHED: 03:44 EST, 11 May 2012 | UPDATED: 09:32 EST, 11 May 2012
Former News International boss Rebekah Brooks today revealed how she was at war with Gordon Brown after the Sun switched support to the Tories.
The ex-News of the World editor said that conversations with Mr Brown had become 'incredibly aggressive and angry' after the Sun declared its support for David Cameron.
She also said Tony Blair passed information to her on rival Mr Brown as the pair's relationship became 'increasingly worse' before the last election, the Leveson Inquiry heard today.
Mrs Brooks made the astonishing admissions about her relationships with Prime Ministers while giving evidence at the inquiry into press standards today.
Scroll down to watch the Leveson Inquiry live
Revelations: Rebekah Brooks gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry today as she discusses emails and texts between politicians
Mrs Brooks swears an oath before giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry today, in which she admitted receiving an apology from David Cameron
Mrs Brooks disclosed a string of meetings with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron since 1997 while she was editor of the Sun, and then boss of News International - the UK arm of Rupert Murdoch's news Corporation.
She told how she had been close to Mr Blair and enjoyed 'very frequent' contact on his personal landline while he was in office.
But her most vitriolic relationship with a Prime Minister was with Gordon Brown. She said that she was among those who decided to ditch support for Mr Brown over his apparent reluctance to support troops in Afghanistan.
Mrs Brooks said she was 'instrumental' in the timing of the switch of support after Gordon Brown's speech at the Labour party conference in 2009.
She said she had tried to get hold of Mr Brown at the conference the night before the paper was due to declare its support.
'Mr Brown and his wife were due to come to the News International party that night and I wanted to get hold of them,' she said.
'The reason for that night is because Mr Brown's speech … the key was that he spent less than two minutes on Afghanistan. We felt that was the right timing in order to distance ourselves.'
Mr Mandelson 'seemed quite angry, but not surprised' while Gordon Brown 'didn't want to talk to me', she said.
What will she tell? Former News International boss Rebekah Brooks arrives before giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry today. Her husband Charlie Brooks is in the car with her
Mrs Brooks admitted that there had been a negative reaction from Sun readers to its front-page story about Mr Brown's letter to the mother of a dead soldier that contained spelling mistakes the following month.
She told of an 'extraordinarily aggressive' conversation with Mr Brown.
'I remember it quite clearly because it was in response to the Sun splash on a letter that Gordon Brown had written to a bereaved mother whose son had died in Afghanistan.
'He had had some spelling mistakes or got the wrong name or something but the Sun had been particularly harsh to him about it...
'He rang me... it was a private conversation but the tone of it was very aggressive. Quite rightly, he was hurt by the (presentation) and the headline that had been put on the story.'
Mrs Brooks said she reassured the then-prime minister that the coverage had been a 'mistake', and did not reflect the attitude The Sun would be taking to him.
'Mr Brown was very angry, I'm not sure there was anything particularly relevant to this inquiry. Mr Murdoch told me the same story that he told you,' says Brooks.
Mrs Brooks said that Mr Murdoch had similar conversations with Mr Brown after the Sun abandoned Labour.
She said: 'When Mr Murdoch told me his conversation it didn't surprise me. He told me exactly what he told the inquiry.'
Former PM Tony Blair dined 30 times with Rebakah Brooks but his successor Gordon Brown was furious after News International switched support to Tories
Close: Former Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks to Mrs Brooks at en event in 2009
She said the PM became 'incredibly aggressive and angry' towards her and that there were suggestions that he had 'declared war' on News Corp.
Mrs Brooks dismissed a question from Mr Jay that the Labour leader could have harmed the commercial interests of News International if he had won the elections in 2012.
She said: 'I didn't think that. At not any point in the conversation with Mr Brown if he wins he will go against the commercial interests of the company. He was just incredibly aggressive and angry.'
Mr Murdoch told the Inquiry earlier this year that Mr Brown was 'unbalanced' after the switch of political support.
Mr Murdoch said that Mr Brown told him: 'Well, your company has declared war on my government and we have no alternative but to make war on your company.'
The Leveson Inquiry heard that stories in the Sun criticising Mr Brown may have been leaked by Mr Blair. Robert Jay QC, counsel for the inquiry, told Mrs Brooks it has been suggested that she passed on material gained from Mr Brown to Mr Blair.
Mrs Brooks replied: 'No it isn't (true). And I think your source might be John Prescott. It's not true.'
Mr Jay suggests a story about Blair's plan to lead Labour for another five years in 2005 had been 'planted' by the former PM.
Mr Jay said: 'Was it Blair, did he plant it?'. Mrs Brooks replied: 'I can't tell you that at all.'
Ms Brooks disclosed details of her meetings with senior politicians over more than a decade, although she stressed that they were merely from her secretary's diary and "very incomplete".
She met or dined with Mr Blair at least 30 times between 1998 and 2007, including three times in June 1998. But Ms Brooks said there were only around three occasions when they dined alone.
After Mr Brown took over as Prime Minister in 2007, they met or dined at least five times including once at the Browns' home.
Ms Brooks recorded one lunch and four dinners with Mr Cameron in 2010, after he had taken power. One was the widely-reported Christmas dinner party at the Brooks' Oxfordshire home on December 23.
Despite enjoying a close relationship with Mr Blair, she said she received complaines from Cherie Blair about coverage of her weight.
Friendly: Rebekah Brooks is recorded kissing David Cameron as she welcomes him to a glamorous party attended by a string of influential figures
Friends: Mr Cameron appears startles after being photographed alongside Mrs Brooks at a book launch in 2009. The pair are said to have texted each other regularly
She said: 'Cherie Blair was concerned that she felt a lot of her coverage was quite sexist. But she's not the first high-profile female to think that about the UK media. She sometimes felt it was quite cruel about her weight.'
Mrs Brooks revealed earlier in the Inquiry that she received an apology from David Cameron after she was forced out of her top job in the Murdoch empire over the phone hacking scandal.
David Cameron texted former News International boss Mrs Brooks, telling her to 'keep her head up' after she resigned from News International last July.
But the Prime Minister followed the messages of support with an apology for having to cut her loose and end the 'cosy' relationship.
Mrs Brooks told the Leveson Inquiry this morning that she received an 'indirect' message in which the PM said 'Sorry I couldn’t have been as loyal to you as you have been to me, but Ed Miliband had me on the run'.
Mrs Brooks arrived at the Inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in a black Land Rover at 9.15 am with her racehorse trainer husband Charlie Brooks.
The ex-editor was greeted by a man dressed as a pantomime horse - a joke about the 'horsegate' saga in which it emerged she had been loaned a former Metropolitan Police horse.
Mrs Brooks admitted that she received messages of support from a string of Tory politicians and 'some Labour' after leaving her job as Chief Executive at News International when it emerged that the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had been hacked.
She said the messages had come from David Cameron, George Osborne, William Hague and Theresa May.
It has also been claimed that the 43-year-old former editor and Mr Cameron exchanged more than 12 text messages a day - which they signed off with a 'x'.
The revelations from Mrs Brooks - who is on bail over phone hacking an payments to police - will pile yet more pressure on the PM who has been criticised for his 'too cosy' relationship with the Murdoch empire.
Ms Brooks said she only had access to around six weeks of texts and emails from her time as NI chief executive, from the beginning of June to July 17 last year.
Only one of those emails was relevant to the inquiry, according to her evidence.
One of the text messages had been from Mr Cameron, but the content was compressed and unreadable, she said.
Robert Jay QC, counsel for the inquiry, asked Ms Brooks about reports that she had received sympathetic messages after her resignation last July.
'I had some indirect messages from some politicians but nothing direct,' she replied.
'A variety - some Tories a couple of Labour politicians. Very few Labour politicians.
'I received some indirect messages from Number 10, Number 11, the Home Office, the Foreign Office...'
She said Tony Blair had been among them but Gordon Brown had not.
'He was probably getting the bunting out,' she added, provoking laughter in the courtroom.
Questioned on whether reports were correct that Mr Cameron's message had urged her to 'keep your head up', Ms Brooks responded: 'Along those lines.'
Pressed on whether the premier had also conveyed regret that political circumstances meant he could not be more 'loyal', Ms Brooks replied: 'Similar, but very indirect.'
After answering questions about emails and text from politicians, she was asked about her relationship with Rupert Murdoch. She said that spoke to him regularly while editing the Sun but denied going swimming together with Murdoch when he visits London.
Mrs Brooks denied that after being arrested in 2005 over a row at party with her ex-husband Ross Kemp Mr Murdoch sent a dress to the police station.
Mr Jay said: 'You had been to Matthew Freud's 42nd birthday. You kept Mr Murdoch waiting for a breakfast meeting and he sent a dress to the police station?'
Mrs Brooks replied by joking: 'You need better sources, Mr Jay.'
Share this article:
Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
The comments below have been moderated in advance.
- Newest
- Oldest
- Best rated
- Worst rated
Just like the school bully being kicked out. All the creeps and sycophants line up to say how sorry they are and sympathise, in case the bully comes back in a position of power. It's called self preservation.
- LadyPenelope, Puppetland, 11/5/2012 14:44
Report abuse
"sorry I couldn't be more loyal to you"... is this for real? Who the h*** cares about this woman and his loyalty to her? His loyalty SHOULD always have been to Britain, to the British people and not to her. Proof, not that it's needed, that his priority has never been us. - brian, bournemouth, 11/5/2012 5:48 .Brian, the UK is a COMPANY. Thats how it is regarded by politicians. So its run like a business. Because we live in a democracy your job is to tick a piece of paper every 4 years and pay your taxes. Why on earth do you think politicians would be interested in your concers? Are you bringing millions of pounds into the country? if yes and you can afford a dinner at number 10 with Dave and Sam then you maye be listened to. If not im afraid your concerns are irrellevant to politicians. Its really that simple.
- Les, Thailand, 11/5/2012 14:41
Report abuse
The principal reason that the Sun withdrew support from the Labour Party was because it did not want to be associated any longer with a political party that had bankrupted its country and with a leader running out of control with the countries finances whilst suffering from psychiatric problems. Now supporting that situation was both unacceptable from a business perspective and treasonable from a patriotic perspective.
- Phil W, Milton Keynes., 11/5/2012 14:34
Report abuse
...and thanks to the change in the constitution which went through early in this parliament, we almost certainly can't get rid of them for another 3 years! Well played, Mr Cameron, you are as rotten as the rest of them and WE CAN'T GET RID OF YOU!!! Vote Tory? Vote anyone? No point. We should change it so it's like jury duty. You get called up to serve in Parliament for 4 years, like it or not. That way we don't end up with self serving, power hungry slimeballs in charge, we get someone who has been chosen at random. They might be crap, they might be great, but one thing's for sure, at least we will have some difference between one lot and the next. Weasels the lot of them. Oh and that "cutting her loose, sorry I could be as loyal...." well, talk about payback time. Hell hath no fury...
- Mum of 4, Somewhere in Surrey, 11/5/2012 14:30
Report abuse
both coulson and brooks have had time to think of their answers so dont expect anything startling plus cannnot see either of them saying anything to drop their old mate dave in the brown stuff
- mick, middlesbrough england, 11/5/2012 14:29
Report abuse
All those meetings with Blair, didn't realise he was that desperate, but then he was on a mission wasn't he and needed ALL the support he could get to fulfil his mission of destroying this country? He almost succeded as well with his arch enemy Brown, we should be grateful that they didn't get on that well or Brown might have still been in No 10 carrying out the planned dirty deed.
- Sheryl, Nottingham, 11/5/2012 14:22
Report abuse
bambi, ipswich, uk, 11/5/2012 13:30-----This is the essence of our so called democracy. The media owned by the wealthy cares little about the lower paid. If we want see where we are heading just take a look at the US. Money has always held the upper hand except for a short period after the War. Then money was spent on the poor and infrastructure thus providing jobs and the media was less powerful, tax was also very high for the rich Laws are made by the rich to maintain their advantages. The wealthiest earn 110 X the average wage, the average not the lowest . In the US it is 500 X. These people divide and rule setting one group against the other with stories of cheats and scroungers and lazy union workers. The majority have one advantage of numbers but they don't use it.. I have always been comfortably off but I have great respect for how hard most people work for so little. I am upset by the way so many who are well off talk so disparigingly of the poor but are happy to use them
- Poppy Clarke, Croydon UK, 11/5/2012 14:13
Report abuse
The two photos of Brooks and Cameron embracing, the hand touch is incredibly intimate. Body language profilers would have field day with that one! - SB1, UK, 11/5/2012 12:53 ======================= LOL .... look again Sherlock - it's his wife's hand he is holding. Unless Brooks is double jointed in a really weird way!
- Re-dun-cu-lous!, England, 11/5/2012 13:59
Report abuse
Amazing how every time there seems to be some controversy going on, Tony Blair is involved in some way, shape or form!
- Amused, Hamilton, 11/5/2012 13:49
Report abuse
Lack of ethics at the highest level sad for the country.
- British Sikh, Berkshire, 11/5/2012 13:49
Report abuse
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin Wordpress | Android Forums | Wordpress Tutorials
