LEVESON INQUIRY

Rupert Murdoch: Never Courted P.M.s

Says his tweets shouldn’t be taken seriously.

First the son, now the father. It’s Rupert Murdoch’s turn before the Leveson Inquiry on media ethics, where he’s being questioned about his use of political clout. Murdoch denied asking for or being offered favors by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when they had lunch in 1981, before he took over the Times newspapers, saying, “I have never asked a prime minister for anything.” Asked whether he wanted to show Thatcher he had the will to crush the unions at the paper, he said, “I didn’t have the will to crush the unions. I might have had the desire, but that took several years.” Murdoch also said that his tweets shouldn’t be taken seriously.