19/07/2011 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at 10: We are at Westminster, where Rupert Murdoch

denies personal responsibility for the phone hacking crisis. He is

called to account by MPs for the turmoil that has affected the press,

politics and the police. He strikes a penitent note. I would just like

to say one sentence. This is the most humble day of my life.

scandal that engulfed the News of the World has raised many

unanswered questions, both father and son refused to take the blame.

The News of the World was less than 1% of Mike company. I employ 50,000

people around the world. They are proud, great and ethical. They are

distinguished. At one stage, the session is disrupted by a protester

who targets Rupert Murdoch. No one is hurt and the man is arrested.

The day also features evidence by Rebekah Brooks, until recently a

key Murdoch executive. She claims she was not given the full facts.

Clearly, what happened at the News of the World, certainly when the

allegations of the intercepts of victims of crime, it is pretty

horrific and abhorrent. Also tonight: Famine returns to East

Africa for the first time this century, with at least 500,000

children at risk of dying. Police fears that the person responsible

for contaminating saline drips at a hospital in Stockport could still

be there. And the Government gives the go-ahead for a widespread Cole

of badgers to stop the spread of TB in cattle. In Sportsday at 10:30pm:

Could Cesc Fabregas finally be going to Spain? The Barcelona boss

says they will fight to the end to Good evening from Westminster,

where the most anticipated parliamentary event of recent years

has produced more than its share of drama. Rupert Murdoch, who runs

Britain's biggest media company, appeared before MPs, flanked by his

son, to answer questions about the phone hacking scandal. He said

today was the most humble day of his life. But he refused to take

personal responsibility for the crisis that engulfed the News of

the World. At one stage, the session was interrupted by a

protester. Rebekah Brooks also appeared and insisted that the

company had acted quickly and decisively, as she put it, when

Enter Britain's most powerful, most feared, most cow would be gear

mogul. The policeman, in case you wondered, are there to protect

Rupert and James Murdoch, not take them in for questioning. That fell

to a committee of MPs. His wife, Wendi, was behind him, offering

physical and emotional support. His son, and once heir apparent, sat

anxiously and protectively at his side throughout. I would like to

say as well, just how sorry I am and how sorry we are. Barred from

reading a scripted apology, Rupert Murdoch was determined to deliver

one key line. I would just like to say one sentence. This is the most

humble day of my life. They were sorry. They were humble. But whose

fault was the criminality in their company? Do you accept that,

ultimately, you are responsible for this whole fiasco? A no. You are

not responsible? Who is responsible? The people that I

trusted to run it. And perhaps the people they trusted. Who that was,

he would not save. -- sake. It's not an excuse, maybe it is

explanation of my laxity. The News of the World is less than 1% of my

company. At this point, his wife prodded him to tell him to stop

banging the table. From then on, when he was asked what he knew,

when, this sounds heard more often was silence. Way you informed of

the findings by your son or Rebekah Brooks? That question, about when

he saw e-mails about hacking, took 10 long sessions -- seconds to

answer. I forget, but I expect it was from my son. In recent years,

News International, which owns the News of the World, was run day-to-

day by James Murdoch. Today he blamed the police, the Press

Complaints Commission and a failed internal inquiry for his company's

failure to reveal what had gone wrong. If I knew then what we know

now, with the benefit of hindsight we can look at all of these things.

But if I knew then what we know now, we would have taken more action

around bat and moved faster to get to the bottom of the allegations.

How different today was from the days Rupert Murdoch was feted by

Prime Ministers, whether Conservative or Labour. His

children, he said, used to play with Gordon Brown's. What about the

current occupant of Number 10? He was never photographed with Rupert

Murdoch, even when he was invited to meet with him before the

election. You were invited to the back door of Number 10? Why?

avoid photographers, I imagine. I just did what I was told. He was

looking relaxed. But then... Mayhem as parliamentary drama turned into

a circus. We can speak to Nick Robinson, who it was in the room.

What can you tell us? I was sitting a few feet away from Mr Murdoch. It

was only half a second before he was hit in the face with that plate

of what I assume is shaving foam. The foam on a plate was delivered

by a member of the public, he was rewarded with a right hook from

wife Wendi. The police arrived some time later. It's the sort of story

Rebekah Brooks would have loved when she edited the Sun or the News

of the World. The now ex-chief- executive of News International

followed the Murdochs into the committee room and matched their

contrition. It seems incredible that you, as the editor, were so

unaware of such fundamental issues to do with his investigation.

some ways, I think the opposite. I don't know anyone in their right

mind food would authorise, no, sanction, approve of any one

listening to the voice mails of Milly Dowler. I don't know anyone

that would think it is the right and possible thing to do.

someone did it, someone approved it and someone covered it up. When

Rupert Murdoch swept out of Westminster we were no closer to

knowing food. We did know that this was a day that he did not enjoy. --

That wasn't the only highly charged committee hearing at Westminster

today. Two of Scotland Yard's most senior officers will also question.

Commissioner Paul Stephenson and former assistant commissioner John

Yates, who have both resigned, denied any wrongdoing. They were

asked about the contract with News International staff and about the

failings of the police Revealed today, the extraordinary

links between two British institutions. Scotland Yard and

News International. MPs described it as a revolving door between the

two organisations, each acting like a job placement scheme for the

other. It was a day for a long and forensic police interrogation. But

this time it was senior officers that were required to answer the

questions. Order, could I called the Committee to order.

commissioner Paul Stephenson was asked about 18 lunches and dinners

he had had with senior News International Staff, at least seven

of them with a News of the World journalists now accused of phone

hacking. News International, I am told, represents 42% of press

readership. But I am going to maintain a relationship with the

media, it wasn't my decision. It was not my decision to allow News

International to be so dominant in the market. But that I am going to

talk to the media and they have 42% of the readership, who am I going

to talk to? It also emerged that of the 45 media and public relations

staff at the Met, 10 are former News International employees. But

it was another Murdoch man given a job at Scotland Yard that the

committee were particularly interested in. Neil Wallis. Now

arrested for alleged phone hacking, the former deputy editor of the

News of the World was hired just weeks after detectives had decided

not to pursue fresh claims of widespread hacking at the paper.

Public affairs head Dick Fedorcio told MPs that he had never asked

Neil Wallis about phone hacking because a colleague, John Yates,

had vouched for him. You knew that John Yates was a personal friend of

a Neil Wallis? Yes. But you still relied on him to give the all-clear

to employ him? I accept the integrity of John Yates, he is a

senior officer. John Yates, the assistant commissioner who resigned

yesterday, confirmed that Neil Wallis had been a friend, if not a

bosom buddy, for 10 years. He was also the officer that decided there

was no need to reopen the inquiry following revelations by a Guardian

journalist Nick Davies. Back in the chair he had occupied only a week

ago, Mr Yates told the committee that he thought his role in Neil

Wallis's appointment had been override to. I sought assurances

from Neil Wallis before the contract was made. I had a note,

you can read it if you like, to the effect, is there anything in the

matters that Nick Davies is still following that could embarrass you,

me, or the Metropolitan Police. I received categorical assurances.

was also asked about a job at Scotland Yard given to Neil

Wallis's daughter. He had sent her CV to the head of recruitment.

had absolutely nothing to do with her employment. I was simply a post

box. And then there were questions today about yet another News of the

World reporter, arrested over phone hacking, who it is claimed worked

as an informant at the yard, Neville Thurlbeck. The hearing

didn't just focus on the links between Met and the Mayor ofs. But

detectives and Downing Street. An e-mail exchange has emerged between

Mr Yates and Ed Lee will end, David Cameron's chief of staff, in which

the officer suggests briefing the Prime Minister on phone hacking

Ed, for whatever reason, didn't think it was appropriate for him,

the Prime Minister what anybody else in Number Ten to discuss this

issue with you. It's very simple and I can understand it, in one

sense. The mirrored glass at Scotland Yard attempts to reflect

attention away from the organisation. Tonight, a mirror is

being held up to the Met, over its relationships with News

International and Number Ten. The crisis here is far from over.

With me, after this remarkable day, Nick Robinson and Robert Peston.

Mecca, I'll start with you. You were in that the committee room,

you saw it all happening. What impression did it make? There is

one impression I will carry for the rest of my life, it was not

captured by the cameras, but it was the sight of perhaps the greatest

media tycoon anyone in this country has seen with a great big custard

pie on his face. That's what the cameras didn't pick it up. It fits

in with his phrase, the most humble day of his life. The humbling came

when he had to claim, or admit, depending on your point of you,

that whatever question was asked, he didn't know the detail. He

couldn't tell you what, when, all of the things that added up to the

doubts about what happened in his company. For the man that

controlled his company with an iron fist for so long, I think either

that wasn't true or it was a very Robert, you see this performance

today, but looking up the more commercial context, given that the

stakes are high, how do they come out of it? It is the first night in

two weeks where it is not obvious to me that they are conspicuously

worse off than the previous night. Therefore I think the two will be

breathing something of a sigh of relief. That said, it was momentous.

None of us have seen a dynasty grilled by MPs. You had James

Murdoch, many would say surprisingly relaxed for most of it.

In touch with most of the detail except on that occasion which I

think many will see as profoundly shocking when he admitted that the

company had continued to pay the legal expenses of Glenn Mulcaire,

the private investigator who they hired to hack the phones of

countless people. They continue to pay his legal expenses long after

he had been imprisoned. That was a shocking moment. By contrast,

Rupert Murdoch, I think people will be surprised to see this chap who

has been feared, I think, by politicians, regarded widely as the

most powerful media tycoon in the world, halting and slightly

stumbling in his answers. His defence was largely that he did not

know, and how could he be expected to be, because the News of the

World was a relatively small part of his great global empire. Not

everybody will find that a convincing explanation, not

everybody will find that a justification. The big question

tonight is did we see a transfer of power from father, Rupert Murdoch,

to a son, James Murdoch? Did we see the beginning of an inexorable

seeping away of the Murdoch family, or was it a bit of both? If Nick,

we will be back later to talk about where this leaves David Cameron.

The owner, back to you. The rest of the day's news now, and

a famine will be officially declared an parts of Somalia.

Across the region an estimated 10 million people have been affected

by severe drought, but conditions have deteriorated so badly that the

UN is expected to announce tomorrow that famine has returned to East

Africa for the first time in 19 years. At least half a million

children are thought to be at risk of death. Andrew Harding reports

from Johannesburg. It has been getting worse for

months. Emaciated families dragging themselves out of Somalia in search

of food. Tens of thousands crowding into camps like this one, Dadaab in

Kenya. Now a famine is about to be declared in at least two regions of

Somalia. The emotive word is rarely used,

conjuring, as it does, images like these. Ethiopia, 1984. This year's

crisis is not yet on that scale. That Somalia has now crossed a grim

threshold. In the crude science of hunger and aid, famine officially

occurs when a third of young children are acutely malnourished

and four children in every 10,000 are dying daily. It is declared a

famine, the international response mechanisms treasured does Margaret

triggered as a result of triggering a famine -- declaring a famine are

completely different to an emergency. International aid effort

ramp up at a different scale to help the disaster victims.

Four hors that Africa is prone to drought and crippled by property --

the Horn of Africa. I turned the rubble of Mogadishu recently, two

decades worth of anarchy. It is hardly a sanctuary but people are

coming here in search of food. Last week it was announced that a ban on

foreign aid organisations was being lifted, but the UN says too many

obstacles remain. British charities are hoping the F-word, famine, will

provoke a new surge in donations, but the short-term looks bleak and

the longer term not much better. Detectives say the person

responsible for contaminating saline drips at a Stockport

hospital could still be there. Three people have died at Stepping

Hill hospital and a 4th is seriously ill. Officers believe in

Siu Lynn was deliberately injected into saline containers used in

drips. Ed Thomas reports. Every car checked in and out.

Police covering hospital entrances. All for good reason. Three people

have died and someone at this hospital contaminated their

medicine. This is a criminal act perpetrated by someone with

malicious intent. We don't believe it could have been anticipated.

Here are the people whose deaths are being investigated. Tracey

Arden, a mother of two, Arnold Lancaster, 71, and 84 year-old

great-grandfather George Keep. All three were given saline and pure

similar to this, but instead they had been filled with insulin, which

can cause blood sugar levels to fall. It has left patients and

visitors worried about their safety. It is worrying, because you never

know whether you are going to go in there next, do you? You might take

kill yourself. Frightened. You just don't once took be ill. Security

has been increased. Saline is now kept in a locked room. The medics

work in pairs if they want to administer drugs. Security is tight

here everywhere because we still do not know who is contaminating the

saline. -- who has contaminated the saline. It could be a visitor to

the hospital, but what concerns people the most is that it could be

somebody who works here. It is horrible to think that somebody may

be deliberately trying to harm patients. And may still be working

here? Our investigator Shen is focusing on those working in a

visiting the hospital. -- our investigation is focusing. Police

await postmortem results. It is hoped they will show what caused

the patients here to die. The International Monetary Fund has

called for urgent action to resolve Europe's debt crisis, warning it

risks major impact in the global economy. Eurozone finance ministers

are due in Brussels on Thursday for emergency talks aimed at shoring up

Greek finances. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel today

warned it was unlikely that this would draw a line under the wider

problems. The Competition Commission has

ruled that the airport operator BAA must sell two of its six airports,

including Stansted and either Edinburgh or Glasgow. BAA's Chief

Executive said this was a reasonably draconian and he would

consider a judicial review. The Government has given the go-

ahead for a widespread badger cull and parts of England to help stop

the spread of tuberculosis in Caputh -- in cattle. Thousands of

infected cattle have been slaughtered. It is thought that

badgers harbour the disease and pass it on. Ministers have been

trying to decide on a Toyota for two decades, but there are warnings

it may still happen. -- trying to decide on a cull for two decades.

This is one of hundreds of areas where bovine tuberculosis has

struck. Farmer David have lost 18 cattle to TB this year alone.

have been slaughtered, 18 cows less producing milk. Have you any doubt

that badgers play a role? No, I think it is pretty well accepted

generally that badgers have a significant role in the

transmission of the disease. Scientists agree that badgers carry

bovine TB, but at the same time they are a much-loved, iconic

character of the British countryside. Ministers know their

decision to back a cull of thousands of badgers will be

bitterly opposed by activists and even some farmers. Personally, I do

not think it will work, mainly because I think any infected

badgers just get forced into wider areas, and my biggest concern is

public backlash. The idea put forward by ministers is badgers on

farms like this will be shot by trained marksmen. Initially there

will be two pilot areas, the idea being to make sure the job can be

done effectively, efficiently and humanely. Already campaigners whose

High Court action overturned the official Welsh policy for a badger

cull are preparing for a similar legal battle in England. No cull is

planned in Northern Ireland or Scotland, which is free of bovine

Now more on our top story. The evidence given to MPs by Rupert

Murdoch, his St James and former News of the World editor Rebekah

Brooks. Over to Huw Edwards in Westminster.

David Cameron has just returned a short while ago from a trip to

Africa and will tomorrow face probably his biggest parliamentary

test since he became PM. He will make a statement to MPs on this

phone hacking scandal and will face questions from MPs. Nick Robinson

joins me. Lots of questions for the Murdochs, but questions for the

Prime Minister, too? Questions raised in part by what happened to

the police, that relationship with a man called Neil Wallis, the

deputy editor of the News of the World and, at the time, deputy to

Andy Coulson, the man who was later hired to be director of

communications to the Prime Minister. I think Labour's Ed

Miliband will again and again say to the Prime Minister that he is

compromised in part by news that we learn tonight that Mr Wallis may

have advised to David Cameron by Andy Coulson before the last

election. No money was exchanged, nobody else and the Conservatives

knew about it, but there was contact. It is not a very helpful

in to Number Ten. Also a great series of questions has been raised

by the police about whether David Cameron was compromise cent could

not have learned the things he should have learnt from senior

police officers. The Cabinet Office says that the Chief of Staff at

Downing Street behaved as he should have done, he followed the book by

not having meetings with police officers. Let's think about the

challenge for Mr Cameron at the dispatch box in the Commons

tomorrow. What is the kind of mood among his parliamentary colleagues

and the challenge for him? They want to sense that David Cameron

can find a way out of the quagmire. He has to show he has answered the

questions that matter to ordinary people. There is a proper police

inquiry, a formal, judge-led inquiry, all the steps are being

taken to clean up the police and the relationship between

politicians and the media. What he has not to do is prove he has been

dragged down by the appointment of Andy Coulson. Some dark humour of

the year, the Prime Minister saw none of this, he was on the plane

back from Africa. -- some dark humour for you. It was relayed by

telephone, and fortunately the line was quite crackly, so the word went

around that Rupert Murdoch had been hit, not by foam in the face, but

by a phone. Quite appropriate! can keep up-to-date on the BBC

website at bbc.co.uk/news. You can find out all the key points, video