Leveson inquiry: Murdoch’s evidence called into doubt by No 10 records

The Cabinet Office has no record of a disputed telephone call in which Rupert Murdoch claims Gordon Brown said he was declaring war on the media mogul, it emerged yesterday.

The only recorded telephone contact between the then prime minister and Mr Murdoch in late 2009 was on 10 November, when they apparently discussed Afghanistan, a Cabinet Office spokesman said.

Mr Murdoch told the Leveson Inquiry in April that he had spoken to Mr Brown by tele-phone on or soon after the Sun switched its allegiance from Labour to the Conservatives on 30 September, 2009.

He claimed Mr Brown accused the Murdoch empire of declaring war on the Labour government, which had no choice but to “make war” in turn.

Mr Brown told the Leveson Inquiry this week that the September call never took place.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said yesterday: “Following Gordon Brown’s evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on Monday, we have received a number of questions about our records, which we provided to Mr Brown to support his preparations for the inquiry.

“We can confirm that there is a record of only one call between Mr Brown and Rupert Murdoch in the year to March 2010. That call took place on the 10th of November 2009.

“This was followed up by an e-mail from Gordon Brown to Rupert Murdoch on the same day, referring to the earlier conversation on Afghanistan.

“Four witness statements have been submitted to the inquiry on the content of the call by staff who worked in No 10 Downing Street and who were the four sole personnel on the phone call.”

After the statement was released yesterday, Mr Murdoch posted on Twitter: “I stand by every word I said at Leveson.”

In April, Mr Murdoch told the inquiry he received a call in response to the Sun switching sides during the 2009 Labour Party conference.

“Mr Brown did call me … he said, ‘Well, your company has declared war on my government and we have no alternative but to make war on your company’.

“And I said, ‘I’m sorry about that, Gordon, thank you for calling’, end of subject.”

When the former prime minister was asked about the tele-phone call this week, Mr Brown said: “This conversation never took place.

“I’m shocked and surprised that it should be suggested, even when there’s no evidence of such a conversation, that it should have happened.

“There was no such conversation. I decided after September 30, when the Conservative Party gained the support of the Sun, that there was no point in contacting them.

“As I said earlier, I’d never asked them for support directly, nor did I complain to them directly when they decided to support the Conservatives.

“So I didn’t phone, I didn’t return calls to News International, I didn’t phone Mr Murdoch, I didn’t talk to his son, I didn’t text him, I didn’t e-mail him, I didn’t contact him. This was a matter that was done.”

He confirmed there was a tele-phone call on 30 November, but that was about Afghanistan, and he denied there would be any further calls which had not gone through the Downing Street switchboard.

“If I was calling a newspaper proprietor or I was calling a political leader around the world or calling someone about a policy issue, I would always go through Downing Street because I would always want someone on the call to verify what happened,” he said.