For a decade, Rupert Murdoch and News UK managed to keep civil claims over phone hacking from ever reaching court. In a bid to hold their official line – that phone hacking happened at the News Of The World, but not the Sun – they spent more than £1 billion settling every claim (including some of dubious merit) before they reached court. To this day, all concern deny that the Sun was engaged in any of the illegal activity of its long-defunct sister newspaper.
But thanks to Prince Harry’s crusade against his tabloid nemesis, the day Murdoch tried to avoid has finally come, and the prince’s lawyers have fought to make the case as broad as they can, arguing that the alleged criminality across the group – and the cover-up they say senior executives launched in response – is essential context for the case they are bringing.
All of this is set to make the next few weeks profoundly uncomfortable for News UK CEO (and former Sun and News of the World editor) Rebekah Brooks and Sun editor Victoria Newton, both of whom are accused by Harry’s lawyers of having complicity in directing illegal acts – with Brooks also accused of orchestrating the deletion of millions of emails.
Brooks and Newton at least have the benefit of still being within the Murdoch empire, and so can expect to be shielded from most immediate consequences by virtue of that. Former senior executive Will Lewis, though, has no such luck – having jumped ship from Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal to become publisher of the Washington Post.
Lewis is alleged by Prince Harry’s lawyers to have played a “pivotal role” in the deletion of 30 million emails – at Brooks’ orders – and is further alleged to have “failed to tell the truth” to police officers over the deletions. None of the three is expected to testify at the trial, and News UK continues to deny wrongdoing.
But Lewis is a controversial figure already in the Washington Post newsroom, having faced revolts over his attempts to appoint a new editor and after following the orders of owner Jeff Bezos not to endorse Kamala Harris. The Washington Post’s newsroom were already looking to rid themselves of Lewis. Prince Harry may yet give them the means to do so.
