Tom Watson writes to MPs over alleged News International bullying

Nanny‏@MyNanny25Reply

#McCann's and #NewsInternational #BULLIED #Cameron into a review #TomWatson writes to #MP's maybe we will get answers http://steelmagnolia-steelmagnolia.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/mccann-fbi-newsinternational.html




Tom Watson writes to MPs over alleged News International bullying

Labour MP unveils plan after Max Mosley offers legal funds for any MP wanting to reveal potential blackmail and intimidation



David Batty

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 28 April 2012 14.29 BST
Article history

Labour MP Tom Watson is to ask other MPs about alleged bullying by News International. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Tom Watson, the Labour MP who helped uncover the hacking scandal, is to write to all other MPs asking whether they have ever been threatened or bullied by News International.

He is taking the action after Max Mosley, the former Formula One racing boss, announced he was funding legal assistance for MPs to reveal potential blackmail and intimidation against them by Rupert Murdoch's newspaper group.

On his Twitter account on Saturday, Watson wrote: "I will be writing to all MPs this week to ask if they have ever been threatened or bullied."

Mosley,who won £60,000 damages from the News of the World in 2008 over false allegations he had taken part in a "Nazi" orgy, said he was bankrolling the action in an attempt to expose News International's hidden hold on British politics.

Mosley told the Independent that he believes at least 10 MPs may have evidence about News International's dealings with politicians.

He said: "Organisations like Hacked Off are trying to make sure that everything that should be put in front of Leveson will be – and that's particularly important where there have been a large number of cases where News International have set out to intimidate, even blackmail, members of parliament and other people in positions of authority.

"So as far as it's possible to do so, those facts have to be brought to Leveson and I'm trying to help in a modest way. I am making legal advice available."

MPs who are worried about disclosing embarrassing evidence could remain anonymous, Mosley said.

Watson has said that attempts were made by News International to make him drop his investigations into the company. Another Labour MP Chris Bryant said in a Commons debate last year that an associate of Rupert Murdoch had warned him that campaigning on hacking would "not be forgotten".

Mosley told the Independent that he was aware of two other cases in which News International had brought undue influence to bear on MPs

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/28/tom-watson-news-international-bullying-claim