Leveson Inquiry: Tessa Jowell assured by Tony Blair over Murdoch deal

• Tessa Jowell told the Leveson inquiry today that she asked for assurances from then prime minister Tony Blair regarding cross-media ownership reforms

• Jowell told the inquiry that Mr. Blair’s instincts to deregulate were stronger than hers. But insisted that he was not driven by “any particular media company”.

The former culture secretary said she sought an assurance from Tony Blair he had made no deal with Rupert Murdoch on media regulation when she was appointed to the role.

She told the Inquiry: “I do think that we were always too reliant on the support of newspapers and I think that, in the context of everything I have said earlier, our expectations were too high of the degree to which the government’s story could be conveyed through the newspapers.”

She said the then prime minister had assured her that there was “no prior agreement” with the media baron on his government’s reforms to cross-media ownership rules.

Today, she told the inquiry that Mr. Blair’s instincts to deregulate were stronger than hers.

However, she insisted that that was not driven by “any particular media company”.

Ms Jowell said she spoke to the prime minister within days of her appointment as culture secretary in June 2001.

“I asked him whether any deal had been done with Rupert Murdoch on the reform of cross-media ownership,” she said.

“He gave me an absolute assurance, which I completely accepted, that there had been no prior agreement.

“So I had no constraint on the conclusion I might reach.”

Ms Jowell told the inquiry that she had urged Mr Blair not to see the interested parties so that her decision-making would not be undermined.

“I wanted to make sure that the meetings I had, the proposals I developed, were not being undermined by representations being made directly to Number 10, and the Prime Minister understood the risks of that,” she said.

She said that she “invited lobbying” on the reforms by a wide range of media companies and other interested parties, and said she had more than 150 meetings.

“I don’t think there was more lobbying from News International than other media groups,” she said.

The inquiry was also told that Ms Jowell had a number of meetings with News International chief Les Hinton over the following year.

However, she insisted there was no “negotiation” with the company over possible media reforms.

“It wasn’t a negotiation. They came to see me to tell me what their view was, as did scores of other media interests,” she said.

On Mr Blair’s stance on the reforms, the former culture secretary said: “His instincts were probably not motivated by any particular media company. His instincts were more deregulatory than mine.”

Asked whether there was any discussion about how the deregulation might affect Labour’s relationship with Mr Murdoch, she said: “No. There was no discussion of that.”

Ms Jowell also suggested that there should be more formal reporting of contacts between ministers and journalists.

“It’s perhaps important that those rules are more transparent and explicit than they have been in the past,” she said