Sarkozy rules out alliance with National Front despite right turn April 25, 2012 NICOLAS Sarkozy ruled out any partnership with Marine le Pen’s National Front party yesterday despite stepping further to the right since losing the first round in the French presidential elections. In an interview on French radio yesterday, Sarkozy said, “We need to speak to the 18 per cent who voted for Marine le Pen.” “But [...]
Murdoch senior defends talks with politicians April 25, 2012 RUPERT Murdoch yesterday stressed, during his appearance at the Leveson inquiry, that he has never asked for nor been offered any favours by a Prime Minister. The octogenarian appeared to emerge from his first day at the media ethics inquest largely unscathed despite being driven to defend repeatedly his relationships with senior politicians. “In the [...]
WHAT RUPERT MURDOCH SAID: BEST OF THE REST April 25, 2012 ● I welcome the opportunity [to speak at the Leveson inquiry] because I want to put certain myths to bed. ● Don’t take my tweets too seriously. ● I take a particularly strong pride in the fact that we have never pushed our commercial interests in our newspapers. ● The Sun has never been as [...]
WEB OF INFLUENCE: HOW THE DAY UNFOLDED AT THE LEVESON INQUIRY AND IN WESTMINSTER April 25, 2012 10.30 – The Strand Rupert Murdoch appears before the Leveson Inquiry. Seeming much more confident than the contrite performance he gave to the Commons committee in July, he insists: “I’ve never asked a prime minister for anything”. 11.40 Murdoch defends his media empire: “I go to the polls every day… people can choose to stop buying [...]
Hunt pleads ignorance over his office’s News Corp emails April 25, 2012 CULTURE secretary Jeremy Hunt took to the floor of the Commons to fight for his political life yesterday, pleading ignorance of the emails that show his department’s apparent closeness with News Corp. Hunt said his special adviser Adam Smith had “unintentionally overstepped the mark” in his frequent emails, calls and texts with top News Corp [...]
HOW MUCH WILL THE REVELATIONS OF JEREMY HUNT’S BSKYB EMAILS DAMAGE THE GOVERNMENT ? April 25, 2012 ROBIN HARRIS COMO GROUP Potentially, but we haven’t heard Hunt’s side of the story yet. We’ve only heard James Murdoch’s – he’s an astute speaker, and has been briefed very well. Until you’ve heard the other side of the story, you can’t have a measured opinion. CHARLOTTE DAUGHTREY PERTRAC I don’t think it will hurt [...]
Top adviser forced to stand down over contact with lobbyist April 25, 2012 GOVERNMENT adviser Adam Smith admitted yesterday he had gone “too far” in his correspondence with News Corp during its BSkyB bid – then went one step further, by resigning. Smith, one of culture secretary Jeremy Hunt’s most senior advisers, fell on his sword after a string of emails released to the Leveson inquiry showed him [...]
Credit Suisse in profit despite £1bn debt fee April 25, 2012 A RETURN to profitability for its investment bank helped Credit Suisse to narrowly avoid a loss in its first quarter despite a SFr1.5bn (£1bn) accounting charge on its own debt. The Swiss bank yesterday posted a net profit of SFr44m – a 96 per cent fall from SFr1.13bn last year – but a marked turnaround [...]
Dougan simply can’t afford to rest on his laurels April 25, 2012 MORE than ever before, banks must be wishing they could simply play their first-quarter performances on repeat. Judging by business activity so far this year, Credit Suisse is now delivering returns comfortably within its target range, having booked a return on equity of 15.9 per cent during the first quarter of this year – once [...]
Canopius finally gets the nod on a £164m offer for Omega April 25, 2012 LLOYDS of London insurer Canopius said it had agreed to buy rival Lloyd’s insurer Omega after raising its offer to £164m in a recommended cash deal, thereby putting to an end a near 16 month process. Canopius said it will pay 67p per share, increasing an offer it made earlier in April by 2p per [...]
