Opinion A perfect firestorm

Harold Macmillan,British Prime Minister,was asked what he feared most during his time in office.

July 24, 2011 12:21 AM IST First published on: Jul 24, 2011 at 12:21 AM IST

Harold Macmillan,British Prime Minister,was asked what he feared most during his time in office. Events,dear boy,. Events, was his answer. David Cameron,his ninth successor as PM,would agree. What has now hit Britain,a firestorm as he called it,did not even begin with Murdoch. It was in the course of the trial for the murder of Milly Dowler,a young woman who had been strangled,that the defence was thought to have been harsh to her parents. Her father was exposed as someone who viewed pornography which Milly had found out and deplored. Her mother was subjected to a long cross-examination. So,even though the accused was convicted,questions remained as to whether the trial had been satisfactory for the parents of Milly Dowler.

It was this background which inflamed the tinder which had been lying around. The tabloid News of the World (NOTW) has been known for pursuing salacious headlines about the hypocrisy of the rich and famous. It had been caught hacking the telephones of the royal family. Andy Coulson,who had been editor when the Royal scandal broke,had since resigned but been hired by David Cameron on his staff as a PR adviser. It raised eyebrows at the time but Cameron got away with it.

Then it transpired that NOTW had hacked into the mobile phone of Milly Dowler after she had died. It is one thing to chase David Beckhams sex life,but a dead young womans mobile phone is something else. From here onwards,NOTW became not just a sleazy tabloid,but a newspaper which indulged in ghoulish practices for the sake of a headline. It soon transpired that it was often the police who had given these numbers to NOTW and been repaid for the favours.

What Britain now has is a huge corruption scandal; corruption not in the sense of 2G or CWGconduct breaching certain norms which everyone takes for granted. Prime Ministers should not employ people likely to have committed or aided criminal acts. Policemen should not help journalists in tracking stories of people who are victims of crime or even worse,the families of the dead soldiers in Afghanistan.

In defence,Rupert Murdoch shut down his profitable tabloid NotW. But that was not enough. He had already been pursuing a takeover bid for the TV channel BSkyB in which he had 39 per cent and wanted the rest. Such bids need careful examining but there was a suspicion that Murdochs connections with Cameron would give him an easy ride. Murdoch had been wooed by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown; Cameron was not to be left behind. So the bid was under scrutiny. Soon everything came under scrutinythe TV interests of Murdoch as well as Camerons partiality towards him and his staff,especially Rebekah Brooks,the former editor of NOTW,etc.

Murdoch has been a hate figure of the Left and progressive people. It is felt that he snared Tony Blair in a rightward swing which made the Labour Party betray its socialist heritage. It was ironic that it was The Guardian,the standard bearer of the Left,which broke the story about Milly Dowlers mobile. It was sweet revenge for decades of bile thrown at The Guardian and its staff by the Murdoch tabloids.

There are now several investigations proceeding. Two high-ranking police officers have resigned. Many have been arrested and questioned. A judge will investigate and report on the legal and ethical issues raised by the scandal. Parliament has been splendid in debating the issue and subjecting David Cameron to intense questioningone-and-a-half hours after a one hour statement last Wednesday alone when the House of Commons stayed a day beyond its rising date. Murdoch has withdrawn his bid for BSkyB and two of his top directors have resigned.

It has been a perfect firestorm which will cleanse as it destroys.