James Murdoch is compared to mafia godfather in savaging by MPs

Labour MP Tom Watson made the comments during a bitter row over Mr Murdoch’s claim that two former executives of the News of the World misled Parliament about his knowledge of phone hacking at the newspaper.

In a bruising second appearance before the House of Commons culture committee’s inquiry into the scandal yesterday, Mr Murdoch insisted he had not learned until recently that the practice of illegally eavesdropping on private messages went beyond a single “rogue reporter”.

Mr Murdoch “disputed vigorously” claims from former editor Colin Myler and ex-legal manager Tom Crone that they informed him at a meeting in June 2008 of the significance of an e-mail revealing the practice was more widespread.

Evidence given to the committee by Mr Crone and Mr Myler in September was “inconsistent and not right”, he said, adding: “I believe their testimony was misleading and I dispute it.”

In a statement released shortly after the hearing, Mr Crone described his former boss’s comments as “disingenuous”.

In a two-and-a-half-hour grilling, Mr Murdoch repeatedly denied being aware of any wrongdoing with the company he has led since 2007.

Mr Watson told him: “You must be the first mafia boss in history who didn’t know he was running a criminal enterprise.”

The News International chief rejected the comparisons as “offensive and not true”, and committee chairman John Whittingdale later said Mr Watson’s questioning had been “rude” and “abusive”.

But Mr Murdoch apologised “unreservedly” to Mr Watson over News International’s hiring of a private investigator to spy on the politician.

He condemned his own company’s use of private investigators to carry out surveillance of lawyers representing hacking victims as “appalling” and “unacceptable”, but said it was ordered by Mr Crone and another News of the World employee without authorisation.

Mr Murdoch did not rule out the possibility that the Sun could be closed – as the News of the World was in July – if there was evidence of wrongdoing on the News International-owned daily.

Mr Whittingdale said it was clear that someone had given false evidence about the June 2008 meeting to discuss settling a legal claim brought by Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive, Gordon Taylor.

“It is plain that the two accounts we’ve heard, one of them cannot be true,” Mr Whittingdale said after the hearing.

He confirmed that Parliament could impose sanctions if the committee concludes that either Mr Murdoch or his former executives misled MPs.

But he added: “We haven’t yet reached that conclusion. If we were to do so, we would report that to the House of Commons and it would be for the House of Commons to determine what further steps to take.”

The News of the World’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed in January 2007 for illegally intercepting voicemails, but News International maintained until earlier this year that they were acting alone.

Mr Murdoch admitted yesterday that he was made aware by Mr Crone and Mr Myler at the 2008 meeting of the existence of the “For Neville” e-mail, which contained transcripts of hacked messages from Mr Taylor’s mobile phone and was apparently intended for chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck.

But he insisted he was not shown it or told its full contents or significance.

“The nature of the so-called ‘For Neville’ email … any wider spread or evidence or suspicion of wider spread of wrong- doing – none of these things were mentioned to me,” he said.

Mr Watson told the hearing that he had spoken to Mr Thurlbeck, who claimed he was told by Mr Crone that he had shown the e-mail to Mr Murdoch.

But Mr Murdoch said this contradicted Mr Crone’s own evidence, and insisted he was given “a narrower set of facts than I might have liked” at the 10 June meeting.

Mr Murdoch suggested that Mr Myler, who was brought in as editor in 2007 to investigate the phone-hacking scandal and clean up the News of the World, should have informed him of how widespread the practice was.

“I wouldn’t call this a failure of governance. I think there was a failure of transparency,” he said.

THE KEY EXCHANGES

“You must be the first mafia boss in history who didn’t know he was running a criminal enterprise”

Tom Watson MP

“Mr Watson, please. I think that’s inappropriate”

James Murdoch

“The nature of the so-called ‘For Neville’ e-mail... any wider spread or evidence or suspicion of wider spread of wrongdoing – none of these things were mentioned to me”

James Murdoch

“The simple truth is that he was told by us in 2008 about the damning e-mail and what it meant in terms of wider News of the World involvement”

Tom Crone, in a statement following James Murdoch’s appearance