RUPERT MURDOCH'S bid to take complete control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB is under threat after Liberal Democrat MPs hinted they may back Labour moves to have the deal suspended until the police investigation into the News of the Worldis finished.
Labour leader Ed Miliband is preparing to force a House of Commons vote on the takeover on Wednesday, and, if it goes ahead, it could go through, given signals that significant numbers of Conservative MPs may abstain.
The motion would not have legal effect, but it would place major pressure on culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has already delayed until September his final decision on Mr Murdoch’s bid to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB that his company, News Corp, does not already own.
Transport secretary Philip Hammond, who acknowledged many would be concerned if the deal went ahead while criminal investigations were under way, warned the government could face legal action from News Corp.
Saying he did not want to force a Commons vote, Mr Miliband said prime minister David Cameron has "got to understand" the deal cannot go ahead after the "disgusting revelations" about the News of the World: "I'm afraid that won't wash with the public."
Labour is to publish its Commons motion today, although party figures said it would be drafted in such a way as to garner “as much cross-party support as possible”, though the Liberal Democrats do not want Mr Miliband to get credit for blocking the deal.
Voicing the Liberal Democrats’ own long-held opposition to Mr Murdoch, party figure Lord Oakeshott said: “We want to block the BSkyB bid and then break up the Murdoch empire. He’s far too powerful – we don’t let Tesco have 40 per cent of the market.”
Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg will today meet the family of murder victim Milly Dowler, who are preparing to sue the News of the World for hacking her voicemail after she disappeared in 2002. They will meet Mr Cameron later in the week.
Mr Murdoch met Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International – News Corp’s UK subsidiary – last evening, after he arrived in London to direct his company’s handling of the crisis.
Despite calls for her resignation, Mr Murdoch is standing by Ms Brooks. Putting his arm around her as she left his London apartment, Mr Murdoch, when asked by journalists to identify his first priority, said: “This one.”
News International has handed over a copy of an internal company inquiry from 2007 that appears to acknowledge phone-hacking and bribery of police was widespread in the newspaper – but this was not given to police at the time.
The document was written after the News of the World'sformer royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed in 2007 for hacking into the voicemails of royal staff and a small number of celebrities.
The disclosure creates major difficulties for Mr Murdoch’s son, James, who took over as chief executive of News Corp’s European and Asian operations in 2007 and who later paid nearly £1 million to hacking victim Gordon Taylor.
Meanwhile, former Liberal Democrats leader Lord Paddy Ashdown revealed he warned Mr Cameron just days after the Conservatives/Liberal Democrats coalition against bringing former News of the Worldeditor Andy Coulson into Downing Street.
He said he and Mr Clegg were told separately by the prime minister that a decision on Mr Coulson was one for him alone, and the Liberal Democrats “did not have standing” to interfere.
