Leveson Inquiry: Tony Blair claims he didn't try to spin the media, as he tells Leveson Inquiry it was good 'management' to get a gloss on stories

Leveson Inquiry: Tony Blair claims he didn't try to spin the media, as he tells Leveson Inquiry it was good 'management' to get a gloss on stories

• Former PM says his government was not the first to want to 'put the best possible gloss' on its work
• But Mr Blair disputes the idea that his premiership had been characterised by a culture of 'spin'
• Rupert Murdoch was the 'key decision maker' regarding the political affiliations of his newspapers
• He is likely to be asked about decision to act as godfather to Mr Murdoch’s daughter Grace

By Katherine Faulkner

PUBLISHED: 18:55 EST, 27 May 2012 | UPDATED: 05:48 EST, 28 May 2012

Tony Blair today denied trying to 'spin' the media, but admitted wanting to get the best 'gloss' on what his government did.

The former prime minister told the Leveson Inquiry that in the early days of his premiership, Labour 'paid inordinate attention to courting, assuaging and persuading the media.'

He agreed the relationship between press and politics had become 'unhealthy' at times under his leadership and said he had taken a 'strategic decision' not to tackle the problem.

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'Strategic decision': Tony Blair decided not to tackle the relationship between press and politics, which he admitted had become 'unhealthy' at times under his leadership

But he disputed the idea that his government had been characterised by a culture of 'spin.'

Mr Blair said: 'I cannot believe we are the first and only government that has ever wanted to put the best possible gloss on what you've done.

'I don't actually think we created this phenomenon, we were trying to respond to it.'

Close ties: Describing his relationship with News International's Rebekah Brooks (pictured above), Tony Blair said Rupert Murdoch was the 'key decision maker'

The close relationship between Mr Blair and Rupert Murdoch was underlined by a list of contact with newspaper editors and proprietors in the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003.

Three telephone calls were recorded between the pair on  11, 13 and 19 March 2003.

He admitted to initiating one of them and that they lasted for now more than 45 minutes in total.

He said: ‘I would have been wanting to explain what we are doing. I think I had similar calls with the Observer and the Telegraph.

'I don't think there's anything particularly odd about that when you're facing such an iss ue.’

When asked why he did not tackle the relationship between politics and the media, he said: 'The price you paid for that would actually push out a lot of the things I cared more about.'

He said it would have been 'a long, protracted battle that will shove everything else to one side while it's going on.'

Mr Blair said at times he did 'fear the power' of the media.

He said: 'personally my advice to any political leader today would be: you have got to have a very, very strong media operation.'

Relaxed: Former prime minister Tony Blair, shown arriving at the High Court today to face questions at the Leveson Inquiry

Mr Blair clarified that he is not suggesting newspapers cannot be partisan, but believes it becomes difficult when 'facts in the story will get slanted in a certain way'.

The former Labour prime minister kept breaking off from his questioning to defend what he did as Prime Minister, which at times made him look very defensive.

Mr Blair is facing a full day of interrogation at the High Court probe into press ethics over his courting of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch in return for political support from his newspa pers.

He arrived looking relaxed at the High Court at around 8.30 this morning - an hour and a half before the scheduled start of the hearing - accompanied by aides and security officers in a convoy of two Range Rovers.

Talking about his relationship with News International and then Sun editor Rebekah Brooks, Mr Blair was asked at the inquiry if he got too close to her while in power.

He replied: ‘There was not a great deal of support left so those people that did, sure, I was pretty close to.’

However, he stressed that Ms Brooks was not the key decision-maker, agreeing it was Rupert Murdoch who made the decisions in regards to the political affiliations of his newspapers.

'He [Murdoch] was the key decison maker for sure.'

Questioning is expected to look at claims that he ‘cut a deal’ with Mr Murdoch in return for support from the Sun newspaper at the 1997 election.

He is also likely to be asked about his decision to ac t as godfather to Mr Murdoch’s daughter Grace.

In 1995 Mr Blair flew to Hayman Island, in Australia, to speak at a News Corporation conference.

The decision was widely seen as an attempt to curry favour with the media mogul, whose newspapers had given Labour years of hostile coverage.

By the time of the 1997 election the Sun, which had subjected Neil Kinnock to brutal coverage at the previous election, had switched to become an enthusiastic cheerleader for New Labour.

As part of the courtship, Mr Blair wrote an article for the Sun in 1997 entitled ‘Why I love the pound’, despite later pressing for Britain to join the euro.

Lance Price, a press aide to Mr Blair both in opposition and in Downing Street, said there had been a pact between News International and new Labour.

In a book on his time with Mr Blair he wrote: ‘A deal had been done, although with nothing in writing.’

And questioned on Radio 4's Today prog ramme this morning, he again suggested there was a deal.

'We wanted every headline to be favourable to him [Tony Blair],' he said.

'There was nothing that we weren't prepared to do.'

The claim was denied by both ex-spin chief Alastair Campbell and former business secretary Lord Mandelson when they gave evidence to the inquiry.

Lord Mandelson said it was ‘arguably the case... that personal relationships between Mr Blair, (Gordon) Brown and Rupert Murdoch became closer than was wise’, but denied there was any ‘Faustian pact’ involving commercial concessions for Mr Murdoch.

Mr Blair is also likely to face embarrassing questions over his attendance at the baptism of Mr Murdoch’s youngest daughters Grace and Chloe in 2010.

The former premier is said to have donned white robes to attend the ceremony on the banks of the River Jordan.

Evidence: Tony Blair gives evidence on the relationship between politicians and the media this morning

Grilling: Tony Blair, pictured arriving at the Leveson Inquiry today, is also likely to be asked about his decision to act as godfather to Rupert Murdoch's daughter Grace

Mr Blair’s appearance comes at the start of a high-profile week for the Leveson Inquiry, with beleaguered Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt set to give evidence on Thursday.

Mr Hunt will also face a grilling over his office’s links with Mr Murdoch’s News Corp, particularly during its bid to take over the satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

He will be challenged over whether his public expressions of support for the bid were compat ible with the quasi-judicial role he was given by Prime Minister David Cameron.

Testimony: Tony Blair arriving at the Leveson Inquiry and being sworn in before questioning began this morning

There was unconfirmed speculation this weekend that Mr Cameron himself is due to appear two weeks later, on Thursday June 14, and that Chancellor George Osborne could yet be called to give evidence in person.

Education Secretary Michael Gove and Home Secretary Theresa May will appear on Tuesday and Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke on Wednesday.

Also due to give evidence on Wednesday is Business Secretary Vince Cable, who was stripped of the role of deciding whether the bid could proceed last December after he was secretly recorded saying he had 'declared war' on Mr Murdoch.

Mr Hunt had asked for his appearance before the inquiry to be brought forward so he could give his side of the story as soon as possible, but was rebuffed by Lord Justice Leveson.

Interrogation: Questioning is expected to focus on claims that he 'cut a deal' with Mr Murdoch (left) in return for support from the Sun newspaper at the 1997 election

The inquiry has been presented with a cache of emails showing that News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel received inside information about the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s handling of the bid from Mr Hunt’s former special adviser Adam Smith, who quit last month after admitting he went too far in acting as a point of contact with the company.

Last week, the inquiry published a memo sent by the Culture Secretary to Mr Cameron in November 2010, weeks before he took on the quasi-judicial role, in which he appeared to be making the case for News Corp’s bid to go ahead.

Taking it in his stride: Tony Blair looked relaxed as he arrived at the High Court today for his Leveson Inquiry questioning

Mr Hunt insists that he oversaw the process 'with scrupulous fairness throughout' and has received strong backing from the Prime Minister.

IRAQ WAR CONTINUES TO PLAGUE BLAIR AS HE ARRIVES FOR INQUIRY

Tony Blair cut a relaxed and smiling figure as he strode into the Royal Courts of Justice for his grilling at the Leveson Inquiry today.

But outside the main entrance, a group of two dozen protesters were not smiling.

Waving banners reading 'Troops home', 'Bliar' and 'Afghanistan out', they greeted the former Prime Minister with an angry reception.

Mary Macmillan, a Fabian from Soho in London, carried a large knitted puppet of a judge bearing a sign on its chest reading 'Blair the day of judgment.'

The 78-year-old said: 'I was a 1997 Labour Party person when Blair got his majority and I'm afraid he's proved a great let-down.

We got very few things that he promis ed. The war in Afghanistan is the greatest treachery.'

Anti-war artist Chris Holden, 69, from London, repeated the familiar argument that the Iraq war - Blair's most controversial act in office - had been 'for the oil'.
He asked: 'Why can't they just come out and say (it?)'

Shouts of 'traitor' also came from the small but dogged crowd.

But Mr Cameron has also said that if anything arises from the inquiry that suggests the ministerial code might have been breached, he will call in his independent ethics adviser Sir Alex Allan or take immediate action himself.

A decision on whether Sir Alex should investigate the Culture Secretary’s behaviour is expected shortly after Mr Hunt gives evidence.

Mr Cable is likely to face questions over whether he approached the BSkyB bid with a pre-conceived hostility towards News Corp.

Mr Gove, a former journalist on the News Corp-owned Times whose wife is a writer on the paper, is likely to be question ed about the frequency of his meetings with the company’s executives, including Rupert Murdoch, his son James and Rebekah Brooks, who rose through the ranks to become News International's chief executive.

The Education Secretary last year recorded 11 meetings with senior News Corp figures between the May 2010 general election and July 2011 and has publicly described Rupert Murdoch as 'a great man' and 'a force of nature'.

Earlier this year, he spoke out about the danger of freedom of speech being harmed by the 'chilling atmosphere' created by the Leveson Inquiry.

Questioning the need for additional regulation of the Press, he cautioned against allowing 'judges, celebrities and the establishment' to become the arbiters of where the limits of free speech should be set.

Mrs May will probably be asked about the police handling of phone-hacking allegations and the issue of the closeness between the police and the media.

 Highlights of Tony B lair's evidence from this morning

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• Sinister truth about Google spies: Street View cars stole...
• Naked man shot dead by police as he chewed victim's face off...
• Honour student who works two jobs to support her siblings...
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• Parents' heartbreak after girl, 22, is killed in horrific...
• 'They're bullies and they treat their women like crap': One...
• 'I'm a tattoo tourist': British woman travels to New York to...
• Pregnant woman abducted, set on fire and shot 'because of...
• Girl. two, 'systematically tortured and raped by mother's...
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