13/07/2011 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at 10: Rupert Murdoch is forced to drop his bid to take full

control of BSkyB. News Corporation scraps his plan after crisis talks

with top executives in London. MPs were united today in their

opposition and said the decision was the right one for Britain.

house, all members, all parties, have given voice to the people and

said to Rupert Murdoch, abandon your bid. After days of allegations

centred on the News of the World, there will now be an inquiry into

the press, police and politicians. We now want to get on with the work

of the police investigation and the public inquiry I have set up today.

We will be assessing the future of the relationship between political

parties and the press. Also tonight: A new counter-attack from

Gaddafi forces in western Libya. It thwarts rebel hopes of advancing on

Tripoli. They are firing into the air, perhaps you can hear it.

years after the RAF's worst peacetime accident, the Mull of

Kintyre Chinook pilots are vindicated.

And unemployment is down, but some key skills are in short supply. A

special report. Later in Sportsday, it was a good

day for Mark Cavendish. He's won the 11th stage of Le Tour de France.

It was his birth -- third stage win of the tour. He is now wearing the

Good evening. In the face of a united house of Commons, Rupert

Murdoch bowed to intense pressure and dropped his bid to take full

control of BSkyB. With News Corporation are engulfed in hacking

and corruption allegations, its top executives decided that the deal,

which had appeared a near certainty, could no longer proceed. Today, the

Prime Minister announced the details of an inquiry into

relations between the press, police and politicians. In a moment we

will be looking at the role played by Parliament. First, Robert Peston

on the day the bid was dropped. There is flash photography in this

report. Rupert Murdoch, the great news

mogul, in the news for what he would see as the wrong reasons.

Putting on a brave face before one of the great humiliations of his

career, the abandonment of his attempt to own all of BSkyB. Here

is News Corporation's explosive That adverse climate, protests

outside Parliament and inside about the deal. And after the deal was

off? I think this is the right decision. I have been saying that

this company clearly need to sort out the problems that there are at

News International, the News of the World, that must be the priority.

Not takeovers. So, the right decision, but also the right

decision for the country. It's the second massive setback for Robert

Murdoch. Just days ago he closed the News of the World because its

reputation had been so tarnished by the allegations. Just 10 days ago,

the allegations came out that the News of the World instigated the

hacking of the phone of Milly Dowler, the phones of the Soham

families, and that the phones of 7/7 victims had been infiltrated.

Members of the country have been appalled by the allegations of

phone hacking. They think that it is beyond belief that, while this

was going on, Rupert Murdoch could increase his hold on British media.

Rupert Murdoch was keen to increase his stake to 100% because it would

give him access to the huge amounts of cash generated by the UK's

biggest television business. In the last year, their profits were about

�1 billion. That would be useful to the News Corporation at a time when

British newspapers have been struggling to maintain revenues. As

for BSkyB's other shareholders, they have paid a big prize for the

failure of the takeover. BSkyB's share price has fallen about 20%

over the last nine days, wiping nearly �3 billion off the value of

the company. So, what has Rupert Murdoch lost? This was a once-in-a-

lifetime opportunity to acquire 100% of a business which has

extraordinarily good prospects, which has a growth trajectory which

is well understood. It would have substantially increased the size of

the company by an order of magnitude, 20% increase. We may

think that Mr Murdoch is big in the UK, but he's much bigger in the US.

The worry for him is that US senators are now on his case

following the allegation that 9/11 victims and their families phones

were hacked. If that is true, if in fact there was any access to any of

the victims' records, it would be, in my mind, probably the most

invasive and perverse use of a victim's information in the final

moments of their lives. A tremendous invasion for their

families as well. February 5th, 1989. The dawn of television's new

age. Mr Murdoch would see himself, rightly, many would say, as the

fine drop -- founder of BSkyB. So, to be told by politicians that he

should not press ahead with his plans to own all of Sky, then to do

what they suggested, it's a setback as big as any of those he has

experienced. Today's announcement came after MPs

lined up in a remarkable cross- party effort against the takeover.

David Cameron said the decision to drop the bid was the right one. Ed

Miliband said it was a victory for people everywhere who had been

appalled by the phone hacking scandal. Nick Robinson has this

assessment of today's confrontation between Parliament and Rupert

Murdoch. Who is more powerful, the men and

women we elect to walk the corridors of Westminster or

Britain's leading media mogul? For years it was a question MPs dared

not ask. But today in the Commons they gave their ransom. The will of

Parliament was clear. -- they gave their answer. The will of the

public was clear. Now, Britain's most powerful media owner has had

to bend to that wilful stopped the Labour leader persuaded every party,

even the Conservatives, to back his call on Rupert Murdoch to withdraw

the bid for BSkyB. It the event, that happened before the motion was

debated. Above all, this is a victory for people. The good,

decent people of Britain. Outraged by the betrayal of trust by parts

of our newspaper industry. Earlier, the Prime Minister had met the

family whose suffering turned the story of hacking from a little

local difficulty for Rupert Murdoch in to a national scandal. He told

the Dowler family that he would work to ensure that it could never

happen again. There is a firestorm, if you like, that is engulfing

parts of the Media, part of the police and, indeed, our political

system's ability to respond. What we must do in the coming days and

weeks is think, above all, of the victims, like the Dowler family,

watching this today, and make doubly sure that we get to the

bottom of what happened and prosecute those that are guilty.

Getting to the bottom of this will be good job of his senior judge. He

said today that his inquiry would focus on one simple question. Who

guards the guardians? Starting now he will look into how to clear up

the secret of relationships between the press, politicians and the

police. Then, once prosecutions have been brought, he will examine

why phone hacking took so long to expose. With the bid off and an

inquiry on, David Cameron faced another big question. Why had he

believed Andy Coulson, his former Director of Communications, he was

arrested last week in connection with allegations of hacking?

gave those self-same assurances to the police, a select committee of

this house and under oath to a court of law. If it turns out he

lied, it will not just be that he shouldn't have been in government,

it will be that he should be prosecuted. Not good enough,

replied the Labour leader. He just doesn't get it. I say this to the

Prime Minister. He was warned by the Deputy Prime Minister about

hiring Andy Coulson. He was warned by Lord Ashdown about hiring Andy

Coulson. He should apologise for the catastrophic error of judgement

he made in hiring Andy Coulson. From now on, we are promised, Prime

Ministers will be opened in their relationship with the Murdochs, the

press barons and their lieutenants. We will be told when they meet.

They can expect fewer cases. In a rare appearance in the Commons,

Gordon Brown insisted he had nothing to apologise for.

relationship between use International and the Labour

administration that I lead, in all of these years, from start to

finish, was neither cosy or comfortable. He said when he was

prime minister he had wanted a public inquiry. But... It was

opposed by the police, by the Home Office, by the Civil Service. And

it was not supported by the Select Committee of the day. Today, MPs

congratulated themselves on standing up to the Murdochs. Soon,

a judge may be asking them, on oath, why they did not do it sooner.

Nick Robinson, who will have more from Westminster and a moment.

Robert Peston is in the studio. It's been such a dramatic day, is

this as bad as it gets forward that Murdoch? It's a fair bet it is

going to get worse. The police have let it be known that so far they

have only contacted a tiny number of the thousands of individuals

whose phones may have been hacked on behalf of the News of the World,

whose private details may have been illicitly obtained. As those

individuals are contacted, bad news as far as News International and

the News of the World will seek out. Chances are, it will damage the

reputation of their company even more. If it alarms customers, puts

of advertisers, it will damage the finances of the business. Not just

here, but around the world. Because this is news that is reverberating

around the world. It is because of that potential damage to the News

Corporation group around the world that all of the talking the media

industry is off Rupert Murdoch disposing of his UK newspapers. You

would have thought it was completely unthinkable to have the

UK without newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. But it was

unthinkable that he would close the News of the World. Just possibly,

the idea that Rupert Murdoch could withdraw from the UK in terms of

newspapers is something we should take seriously. Mecca, what is your

assessment of what today means? is the third great crisis of trust,

after the banks and MP expenses, now we have the crisis of trust in

the press. Like them, it has built bit by bit, layer by layer. For a

long time, people ignored it because they saw that nothing

appeared to be moving. Now, this week, it has become an avalanche

that has swept away not just the News of the World, not just that

bid for BSkyB, but also David Cameron's relationship with the

Murdoch empire, his belief that there was no need for an inquiry,

and it is now heading for a whole network of relationships between

politicians on all sides, the press, and the police. This avalanche is

still moving. No one knows who or Other news, and in Libya five

months of civil war sparked by the Arab uprisings have so far failed

to topple Colonel Gaddafi. In fact, his forces had begun a counter-

attack in Western Lydia Against rebels hoping to advance from there

on to the capital, Tripoli. The fighting in the Nafusa Mountains

has seen the rebel movement news and then regain ground around the

Six in the morning in the Nafusa mountains, spies have warned of a

build-up of pro-Gaddafi forces nearby, but these rebels are not

trained soldiers, just a bunch of ill-equipped volunteers. Hours have

passed and that Gaddafi troops don't attack, the rebels relax

hoping it is a false alarm. At 11 o'clock, the frontline in Gualish.

By now it is usually too hot for fighting but a lookout has spotted

a group of enemy vehicles heading this way. There will be a battle

after all. It is firing very close to here, perhaps you can hear it. I

am sheltering behind this building. Out there, they Gaddafi people are

shooting in our direction. You can hear bullets firing over head from

time to time quite low, and this is one of the rebel positions. They

That is the sound of a bullet hitting, but no one is hurt.

Overhead, rocket-propelled grenades are exploding in the air. Many of

the rebels are in full panicky flight now. Soon, shame brings them

to a halt. Fierce argument is raging, some one to turn back and

carry on fighting, others say they are short of ammunition. In the end,

this group heads back in the hope of stemming the pro-Gaddafi advance.

It is hard to think that Tripoli is only 60 miles from here. It is

another world. Colonel Gaddafi still has his supporters, mostly

those who have done well out of the oil business. Most ordinary people

have been shut out of Libya's oil wealth. The much feared secret

police are everywhere preventing an uprising. Colonel Gaddafi himself

has a haunted life and has nowhere to go. When he says he will stay to

the bitter end, he seems to mean it. It is 6pm here in the Nafusa

mountains. The rebels have stabilised the front line, but you

can see why the revolution is taking so long. The rebel

commanders are still confident that they will be in Tripoli by early

September. Several people have died in what

police are describing as a serious incident at an industrial estate in

Lincolnshire. There are reports of an explosion at the estate in

Boston. The emergency services are there.

The families of two RAF pilots whose helicopter crashed into the

Mull of Kintyre 17 years ago have finally seemed -- seen them clear

of guilt. Today the Defence Secretary Liam Fox apologised to

the men's families. It was a flight which lasted little over 17 minutes,

but the argument over what really happened that day lasted 17 years.

This was the wreckage of the RAF's worst peacetime accidents - 29

people died, including some of the brightest and best in counter-

terrorism. The pilot, Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook, were

blamed, found grossly negligent by the RAF for flying too low and too

fast before the crash. Ever since, Chris Cook has campaigned to clear

his brother's name. Today there was simply relieved that after so many

years he had finally won through. absolutely delighted, taken aback.

I was not expecting we would get quite that much today, to be honest.

I just thought we would get an idea of what the report said. Today,

Jonathan's father finally heard the words he had waited for for so long.

I have written to the widows of the pilots and the family is to express

the MoD's apology for the distress caused to them by the findings of

negligence. I also wish to express that apology publicly. For Sue

Phoenix, watching that statement brought everything back today. She

lost her husband Ian in the crash. I am no longer angry, I am very sad.

It is the sadness of the unnecessary suffering for all of

the family is, but for those two farmers in particular. The fact

they lost other loved ones that didn't see their sums names feared.

We have questions raised over the helicopter's safety, they may never

know what happened in those last desperate minutes over the Mull of

Kintyre, but for the families, today's apology marked the end of a

long battle to clear their names. Coming up: after decades at the

heart of the British media, how will Rupert Murdoch weather the

storm of scandal? At least 21 people have been killed

in India's financial capital Mumbai in what the authorities are calling

a co-ordinated terrorist attack. Three bombs exploded during the

evening rush-hour. Apart from the dead, more than 100 others were

It was the evening rush-hour when the bombs went off, three of them

within a quarter of an hour. They were all targeted at busy locations

at a busy time of the day. Many people had been on their way home

from work. One eyewitness said he saw two motorbikes explode in

flames and the injured screaming for help. Over 100 people were

wounded, in what William Hague condemned as deplorable act of

terrorism. Many have lost limbs. All injured have been evacuated to

hospitals. The blast occurred at about 6:45pm within minutes of each

other. Therefore, we infer that this was a Co ordinated attack by

terrorists. The first bomb went off at 6:54pm at the Zaveri Bazaar, a

jewellery market. One minute later, the upper house district was

attacked, and then the crowded neighbourhood of Dadar. It is the

first major attack in Mumbai since 2008, more than 160 people were

killed after Territt blamed on militants from Pakistan. These

latest bombs have been described as relatively crude and possibly the

work of local militants. Whoever is behind them, they have shown that

India's largest city is still vulnerable. For a unemployment has

fallen again with the latest figures for the three months to May

at 2.42 5 million, but the number of people claiming jobseeker's

allowance rose. Many areas are continuing to face

job shortages but there is also evidence of employers struggling to

find workers with the right skills. It is a world-beating industry, a

cluster of firms in an area of the Midlands known as Motorsport Valley.

Growth is accelerating, new staff are being recruited but there is a

problem on the road ahead. One of the top names in British motor

sport, David Richards, told me what it was. He runs Prodrive, a big

name in rallying as well as design and manufacture, he just can't find

the right staff. I need 100 engineers, skills experience

engineers. He says if he can't find them soon, the company's progress

could be held back. It will inhibit our growth, it is doing that today.

We are not taking tasks on that we could be if we had the resources to

do it. Unemployment may be relatively high but some industries

have vacancies and can't find workers with the right

qualifications to fill them. This is an employer trying to recruit

permanent staff and offering career prospects but for some other

employers it is rather different. They are not as confident about

future growth in the economy so they are reluctant to commit

themselves to taking on full-time workers. This pub and catering

business in Oxfordshire is one of them. Right now it is only prepared

to take on casual staff and there is another side of the jobs market

on display as well. Meet the bosses, Joanna and Anthony, and here are

the staff on duty when we paid a visit. Step forward those born in

the UK, the rest are not. I started to work as a waiter, and later as a

supervisor, then here as an assistant manager. Step after step.

Catering is well known for taking on casual workers, and bosses here

save it local recruitment is difficult. Foreign people have a

very good work ethic. They know that the job needs to be done and

they get on with it. They certainly bring more flexibility to the

business. What is it about British workers, do you think? Everybody

expects a full-time permanent contract, and if they don't get

that position they are not prepared to put in the hard graft. There are

jobs out there, but matching them with the right people and making

sure they have the correct skills and attitude is a big challenge for

the economy. More now on the top story, that

Rupert Murdoch has dropped his bid to take full control of BSkyB.

Until the events of the last nine days, his influence and ambition

looked unstoppable. Now, in Britain at least, that picture has changed.

This is an assessment of how he might weather the storm.

Powerful press barons are nothing new. Throughout the 20th century

they sought to use them mass circulation newspapers to persuade

governments or influence politicians. But none matched the

cloud of Rupert Murdoch, who first came to Britain in 1969 to buy the

News of the World. In Australia and Britain he has used his papers to

destroy some political careers and endorse others. Politicians in awe

of the Sun's circulation figures went to great lengths to court its

support. In return the suspicion grew, Murdoch could ask and get

favours from government and regulators which were denied to

rivals. And individual politicians, fearing exposure of their private

lives, were cowed. Two reasons, and let's be blunt - one is that there

was an element of threat, and we know that existed. Explicitly and

sometimes implicitly. The other is these guys deliver votes unfair for

elections. But now the Murdoch stable has been discredited, and

politicians have lost their fear and found a voice. So what now for

Rupert Murdoch? I would be very surprised if he doesn't think of

coming back for BSkyB, and the reason is it is a fantastically

effective business. It suits the News Corporation's long-term

strategy. They think Sky TV is the best pay TV company in the world.

For a business man as determined and successful as Rupert Murdoch,