Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

A political system corrupt to its core:

Osborne met News International chiefs 16 times since election

Chancellor's meetings including five with Rebekah Brooks show full extent of government's links to News International

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 July 2011 17.49 BST

George Osborne met Rebekah Brooks on five occasions in the year following the 2010 general election, according to figures released on Tuesday afternoon, that show how the chancellor cultivated relationships with senior figures at News International.

The chancellor, who expressed regret on Monday for recommending Andy Coulson as the Tories' communications chief, met James Murdoch on four occasions, and Rupert Murdoch twice. In total, he attended 16 meetings at which News International executives were present.

The figures show the full extent of the government's links with News International:

Michael Gove, the former Times journalist who is now education secretary, met Rupert Murdoch six times after the election, more often than any other member of the cabinet. They first met for dinner, along with Brooks, on 19 May last year. Gove and Murdoch had dinner twice in the space of 10 days last month on 16 and 26 June.

Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, met James Murdoch on two occasions in January this year to discuss the News Corp bid to take full control of BSkyB. Hunt was handed control of media takeovers in December after Vince Cable was stripped of his powers in the wake of the disclosure of a recording in which he told undercover journalists that he had "declared war" on Murdoch.

The culture department said Hunt's discussions with Murdoch "set out the process around the proposed BSkyB/News Corp takeover". Hunt has mentioned before that he met Murdoch.

The figures show how Osborne's maintenance of contacts with NI figures, following his appointment as shadow chancellor by Michael Howard in 2005, paid off when the Conservatives came to power as part of the coalition.

Osborne, who became particularly close to James Murdoch because they have children of a similar age, first met him after the election at a meeting also attended by Brooks. Murdoch and Brooks had another joint meeting in April this year. Osborne's other meetings with Brooks and Murdoch were a mixture of social engagements and what are termed as general discussions.

Osborne met Rupert Murdoch in May last year, the first of two meetings during the year. They also met for dinner in New York on 17 December last year, four days before Cable was stripped of his responsibility for media takeovers.

The chancellor's aides said that only 30% of his meetings with media executives were with executives from NI, a similar proportion recorded by Ed Miliband. But the chancellor appears to have kept this figure down by including public meetings, such as the Spectator's Parliamentarian of the Year awards, that were beyond the formal requirements to register private meetings with proprietors and editors.

Gove has used the same tactics to dilute his meetings with NI executives. Government sources said he had gone way beyond the formal requirements by naming working journalists in addition to proprietors and executives.