Leveson Inquiry: Gordon Brown says he did not 'declare war' in phone threat to Murdoch

Leveson Inquiry: Gordon Brown says he did not 'declare war' in phone threat to Murdoch

• The former PM denied he called Mr Murdoch to threaten him with war after The Sun backed the Tories
• Sarah and I never gave permission for the Sun to print a story about his son Fraser's cystic fibrosis, he said
  
• Asked why his wife remained friends with Rebekah Brooks afterwards, 'My wife is the most forgiving person I know,' he said

By James Chapman and Tim Shipman

PUBLISHED: 03:46 EST, 11 June 2012 | UPDATED: 17:09 EST, 11 June 2012

Exit: Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown leaves the Leveson Inquiry at the High Court in London after a controversial morning of evidence

Gordon Brown yesterday accused Rupert Murdoch of lying on oath in his claim to the Leveson Inquiry that the former prime minister ‘declared war’ on his media empire.

Mr Brown said an alleged ‘unbalanced’ phone call the tycoon claimed was made after The Sun switched its backing to the Tories did not take place.

‘This call did not happen. The threat was not made. I find it shocking. There is no evidence that it happened,’ he said.

In a statement issued last night by News Corporation, Mr Murdoch stood by his evidence.

But in extraordinary testimony to the judicial inquiry into media standards, Mr Brown also insisted he did not give consent for The Sun to publish a story about his son’s diagnosis with cystic fibrosis.

He said he was ‘shocked and surprised’ that Mr Murdoch had told the inquiry he had said that in allowing his newspaper to support the Tories, he had ‘declared war on the government’, leaving him ‘no alternative but to declare war on your company’.

Mr Brown rejected evidence from the newspaper’s former editor Rebekah Brooks that he and wife Sarah had agreed to the publication of details of the illness of their son, Fraser, though he appeared to accept that it was not obtained by accessing his medical records as previously claimed.

And he accused The Sun of distorting reports on the war on Afghanistan to make it appear that he had ‘evil intentions’ and did not care about British troops.

Mr Brown’s claims are serious because they charge Mr Murdoch and Mrs Brooks of not telling the truth at the inquiry.

Witnesses must swear on oath to give truthful evidence, and could be charged with perjury if they have not done so.

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Evidence: Gordon Brown has started giving evidence this morning as he was drawn into the Leveson firestorm

Under oath: Mr Brown has made several sensational claims today in his evidence and denied much of Rupert Murdoch's evidence was true

Battle: Gordon Brown and Rupert Murdoch have been engaged in an incredible war of words with the former Prime Minister accused of making a 'threatening' phone call to the media mogul when The Sun dropped support for Labour in 2009

The former PM’s evidence was his first major public appearance since he spoke in the Commons a year ago to attack the ‘criminal-media nexus’ he said had been created by the Murdoch empire.

A defiant Mr Brown appeared determined to contradict Mr Murdoch’s evidence in which the former prime minister was alleged to have vowed to go to war with his company.

‘I am alleged to have acted in an unbalanced way. This conversation never took place. I am shocked and surprised that it should be suggested,’ Mr Brown said.

He said he had spoken to Mr Murdoch weeks after The Sun’s switch to the Tories in 2009, but the conversation was about Afghanistan.

In her evidence, Mrs Brooks told the inquiry that Mr Brown had been ‘extraordinarily aggressive’ in response to The Sun’s coverage of the conflict. But the former PM dismissed that claim.

Big day: Gordon Brown with his wife Sarah arrive at a rain-soaked Royal Courts of Justice this morning

Off to work: Mr and Mrs Brown head into the Leveson Inquiry where the former Prime Minister will be grilled on his dealings with the Murdoch Empire

He also denounced claims in The Sun that he fell asleep at a memorial service, insisting he was bowing his head to pray, and also attacked its coverage of a letter he sent to the mother of a dead soldier that was said to have contained 25 mistakes.

He added that he felt he did not have the support of The Sun ‘for almost all the time that I was prime minister.

'You have to remember that when I started off as prime minister, the first thing The Sun did was try to ruin my first party conference by launching their huge campaign about how we were selling Britain down the river and demanding not only a European referendum but demanding that I support it,’ he said.

Exit: Gordon Brown, pictured with his wife and boys when he left Downing Street in 2009, says he had tried to protect his children from the media

Angry: Then PM Gordon Brown arrives at the Showal forward operating base in Lashkar Gah, southern Afghanistan in 2010, and attacked the Sun on its coverage on the issue

Cosy relationship: Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah with Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi shortly after Mr Brown became Prime Minister in 2007, but their relationship eventually turned sour

An emotional Mr Brown also rejected Mrs Brooks’s evidence that he and his wife gave permission for the paper to reveal that their son Fraser had cystic fibrosis.

‘I don’t think there’s any parent in the land who would have given explicit permission for this story,’ he said.

Mr Brown sought to undermine The Sun’s evidence that the story was obtained legitimately.

He cited a statement from John Wilson, chief executive of NHS Fife, who said they accepted that a member of its staff had spoken, without authorisation, about Fraser’s medical condition.

Mr Wilson also insisted ‘there was no inappropriate access to the child’s medical records’.

Mr Brown struggled to explain why he and his wife continued to socialise with Mrs Brooks after the story was published.

Big smile: Rupert Murdoch is driven away with his wife Wendi after giving evidence to the Leveson Inquiry in April. Wendi went to a Pyjama party at Chequers with Sarah Brown

Mrs Brown held a slumber party to mark Mrs Brooks’ 40th birthday at Chequers at which Rupert Murdoch’s wife Wendi was also present. The Browns also attended Mrs Brooks’ wedding.

‘Sarah is one of the most forgiving people I know,’ Mr Brown said. ‘We had to get on with the job of doing what is expected.’

Responding to Mr Brown’s evidence, a News Corporation spokesman said: ‘Rupert Murdoch stands behind his testimony.’

A News International spokesman said: ‘We welcome the fact that NHS Fife have today said that they believe there was ‘no inappropriate access’ to the medical records of Gordon Brown’s son.

‘The Sun stands by previous statements issued on the matter.’

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By TIM SHIPMAN

PUBLISHED: 03:46 EST, 11 June 2012 | UPDATED: 17:09 EST, 11 June 2012

The Leveson Inquiry was repeatedly told by Mr Brown that he knew nothing about his aides plotting against Tony Blair and other Cabinet ministers yesterday â€" sparking incredulity from party insiders.

The former PM refused to accept any responsibility for unleashing the ‘forces of hell’ as his spindoctors were dubbed.

Mr Blair, Alistair Darling, Alastair Campbell and other leading Labour figures have repeatedly insisted that Mr Brown’s special advisers Charlie Whelan and Damian McBride engaged in aggressive briefings against Mr Brown’s internal enemies.

Denial: Gordon Brown told the Inquiry that he never briefed against Tony Blair

LORD LEVESON: 'I WILL NOT GET DRAWN INTO PARTY POLITICS'

The judge chairing the inquiry into press ethics said today that it was 'essential' that cross-party political support for his investigation was 'not jeopardised'.

Lord Justice Leveson said the 'politics of personality' and any impact inquiry evidence might have on current political issues was not his focus.

The judge told the Leveson Inquiry in London that nothing he said or did was intended to limit any investigation by Parliament.

He was speaking prior to hearing evidence from former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown.

'The purpose of the inquiry is not to challenge the present Government or the decisions taken in the recent past but to look at the much wider sweep of history, across party political boundaries,' said Lord Justice Leveson, a Court of Appeal judge.

'To the extent that there are political questions that Parliament wishes to investi gate, I repeat that nothing I say or do is intended to limit or prevent that investigation taking place.'

But Mr Brown insisted he neither sanctioned nor was even aware of the briefings.

Mr Brown dismissed as ‘tittle tattle’ the repeated assertions that Mr Whelan and later Mr McBride engaged in systematic anonymous briefings against his rivals.

‘I wouldn’t say that at all,’ he told the inquiry. ‘It would be without my knowledge and without my sanction.’ Asked if they ever briefed against Mr Blair, he said simply: ‘No. If they did so it was without my authorisation.

Mr Campbell has told the inquiry there was a ‘real problem’ with Mr Brown’s special adviser in the Treasury, Charlie Whelan.

Mr Brown’s chancellor, Alistair Darling, has accused Mr McBride and Mr Whelan, who was by then with the Unite union, of briefing against him in the financial crash of 2008. ‘The forces of hell were unleashed,’ he said.

But Mr Brown said yesterday: ‘One thing I can say to you that is absolutely clear ... is that nobody in my position would have instructed any briefing against a senior minister, and Alastair Darling was a friend of mine as well as a senior colleague.’

Mr McBride was forced to resign in 2007 after it emerged that he had passed smear stories about senior Tories to a website.

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