Murdoch and Mensch

The Tories are digging themselves into a mighty hole. All four Tory members of the Commons Culture Committee refused to back the line that Murdoch was not a fit person to run a corporation. They were perfectly happy for the monkeys to take all the blame while the organ grinder walked away relatively unscathed. Why could this be? It could not have anything to do with their close relationship with the Murdoch empire could it? 

Most Tories hate public services with a passion. They loathe the BBC. They see Murdoch as their champion. A private enterprise entrepreneur  who will erode the BBC’s position in our life. Unfortunately for these half-wits the Milly Dowler hacking story scuppered NewsCorps takeover of BSkyB. From what has emerged at Leveson, it is clear that Hunt and Cameron were perfectly happy to grease the wheels of the bid.  The Tories do not see the corrosive effect he has had both in the UK and the US with the Scum, the Screws  and Fox News, because they spout right wing rubbish which fits their agenda. They also demean our daily life. Take the latest example of a joke. Roy Hodgson has been appointed England boss so the Sun took the piss in a nasty front page taking the mickey about the way he speaks. Not about his calibre, his ability or his talent. The way he speaks. They really are an egregious bunch in Rupe’s favourite paper.

As Murdoch has become even more toxic so have the Tories. Their relationship will be exposed further at Leveson. Miliband divorced his party from the Murdoch empire some time ago (and took a lot of stick in their papers ---purely coincidentally...) 

“..the committee as a whole was happy to damn already-ousted Hinton and other players that News Corp has thus far pushed under a bus, (however) the Conservative members rallied to the defence of the Murdochs themselves. One Tory, Phil Davies, justified this with the circular argument that Murdoch Sr must be fit to run a business because he has always done so, adding that everyone makes mistakes. Another, Louise Mensch made the subtler pitch that it was for Ofcom, and not the committee, to provide the final verdict on the Murdochs' fitness to broadcast on these shores. Her gamble is that Labour's Tom Watson, who launched a withering diatribe against the Murdochs as the report was published, overreached himself in persuading the majority to go for the jugular.” Guardian leader article 2/5/12 

Mensch put up a spirited defence on Newsnight about the split. Matthew Norman, writing in the Independent earlier in the week revealed how close Whittingdale had been to Murdoch in the past when he acted as a cheerleader for Thatcher. He had contacted Andrew Neill, the then editor of the Sunday Times, who was minded to express support for Heseltine in a leadership contest. It was Whittingdale who threatened him with the spectre of his boss Rupert Murdoch. Mensch has also had contacts with the Murdoch crew. 

“John Whittingdale, the committee's chairman, admitted he had talked to News Corp's corporate lobbyist, Fred Michel. But Mr Whittingdale said there was nothing sinister in what had been a standard, routine exchange with the lobbyist currently at the centre of the row involving the BSkyB bid and the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. (Oh yeah)

Louise Mensch has already been clear about her exchanges with Mr Michel: yes, he briefed her on arrests at The Sun; but no, she refused his offer to brief her on the background to phone hacking. (Oh yeah)

Mr Watson and his fellow Labour colleagues all said they couldn't be influenced and suspected Mr Michel may have known this and therefore hadn't bothered to call them.” Independent 2/5/12 (My italics)

Louise Mensch was revealed this morning as being absolutely set against any criticism of Rupert or James Murdoch or of their company NewsCorp. (Paul Farrelly MP speaking on the Today programme). Jings! So help me Bob.

What is her background?

The daughter of a wealthy stockbroker, born in 1971 into a family of distinguished Catholic gentry, she attended a home counties boarding school before studying English at Oxford. Her first political memory is the Falklands war – "My mum boycotted Argentine corned beef, and I remember disagreeing violently with pacifists" – and at 14 she read Jeffrey Archer's First Among Equals and joined the Tory party. Her heroines were Margaret Thatcher and Madonna, her plan was to become an MP.” Decca Aitkenhead, Guardian 30/9/11

She made her name (as Louise Bagshaw) writing apparently quite raunchy chick-lit. She also admired Tony Blair. So much so she became a member of the Labour Party (briefly) in the 1990’s. She has also had a facelift. Now why would a well adjusted intelligent person with no external reason (car crash, disfigurement etc) pay oodles to look like a landed carp?

The word Mensch comes from German Yiddish and means ‘human being.’ Mmmm.