David Cameron today claimed that he had no recollection of more than 20 key events and conversations going to the heart of his Government’s relationship with the Murdoch empire.

During more than five hours of questioning at the Leveson judicial inquiry, Mr Cameron repeatedly said he couldn’t remember or recall discussions he had had over phone hacking, the BSkyB takeover or the appointment of Andy Coulson as his communications chief.

But the Prime Minister did insist that at no stage was there ever a “covert or overt” deal with News International in return for their political support, despite his close personal relationship with both Mr Coulson and the News International chief executive Rebekah Wade.

The Prime Minister's aides insisted afterwards that he had not tried to evade the inquiry’s questions but had not wanted to comment on oath on events in the past that he genuinely could not remember. “He is only human,” they said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/camerons-22-memory-lapses-at-leveson-7850653.html

Obviously Cameron has an Alzheimer problem and is patently unfit to be prime minister...

 

David Cameron’s intimate dealings with Rebekah Brooks and the Murdoch empire were laid bare with a message from the former News International executive telling the Prime Minister: “We’re in this together.” The Leveson Inquiry revealed a text message from Mrs Brooks to the Prime Minister lavishing praise on him and his wife and looking forward to private discussions over a “country supper”. Mr Cameron was left visibly embarrassed by revelations about his relations with Mrs Brooks and the Murdoch family during a day-long appearance at the public inquiry into the press his Government set up. The Prime Minister also faced questions from Lord Justice Leveson over his decision to appoint Jeremy Hunt to oversee the Murdoch bid for BSkyB. The culture secretary’s previous support for the bid “does raise a question as to the desirability” of that appointment, the judge said. In a performance lacking his customary self-assurance, the Prime Minister frequently appeared uncomfortable, frequently telling the inquiry that he could not recall details of conversations or meetings. The most difficult moments in Mr Cameron’s five-hour evidence session concerned his regular contacts with Mrs Brooks, who resigned as News International’s chief executive last year and has since been charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice. The inquiry has focussed on the degree to which politicians have favoured the interests of media owners like Rupert Murdoch in exchange for the support of their newspapers. Mr Cameron told the inquiry that he had tried to persuade Mr Murdoch and other owners to back him, but said it was “absolute nonsense from start to finish” to suggest that he had offered for that support.“There was no covert deal, there was no nods and winks, there was a Conservative politician, me, trying to win over newspapers, trying to win over television, trying to win over proprietors, but not trading policies for that support,” he said. Despite that assurance, the relationship Mr Cameron developed with the Murdochs and their senior staff came under intense scrutiny at the Royal Courts of Justice. Mrs Brooks sent the text message to Mr Cameron in October 2009, the night before his speech to the Conservative Party conference. Weeks earlier, News International’s Sun had switched its support from Labour to the Conservatives. . Mrs Brooks wrote: “I am so rooting for you tomorrow not just as a proud friend but because professionally we’re definitely in this together!” The text also thanked Mr Cameron and his wife for attending a News International party. “As always Sam was wonderful – (and I thought it was OE’s that were charm personified!),” Mrs Brooks wrote, a reference to Mr Cameron as an Old Etonian. Mr Cameron’s reply to the text has not been disclosed to the inquiry and No 10 sources said an initial search of records has failed to find any response. The inquiry has previously heard from Mrs Brooks that Mr Cameron would frequently send her texts ending “LOL”, which he meant to indicate “Lots of love.” Mrs Brooks is married to Charlie Brooks, a longstanding friend of Mr Cameron, and the couple have a house near the Prime Minister’s constituency home in Oxfordshire. The Prime Minister faltered over suggestions that in the run-up to the 2010 election, he had seen Mrs Brooks every weekend in Oxfordshire. He later consulted his wife’s diary and told the inquiry he had seen the former editor every six weeks or so. Written evidence submitted by the Prime Minister showed that in Opposition, he met Rupert Murdoch at least ten times and held a further 15 meetings with his son, James Murdoch. At one meeting, James Murdoch gave Mr Cameron advance notice that the Sun would declare its switch in allegiance during the Labour Party conference in 2009. Mr Cameron did he “did not recall” discussing broadcasting policy or the BBC with James Murdoch at that meeting, but said it was “unlikely”. Mr Cameron also told the inquiry he will forever be “haunted” by his decision in 2007 to hire Andy Coulson as his communications chief, months after Mr Coulson resigned as editor of the News of the World over phone-hacking. Mr Coulson left No 10 last year and since been charged with perjury. The Prime Minister said that “with hindsight” he would not have hired him. Mr Cameron admitted discussing Mr Coulson’s appointment with Mrs Brooks before offering him the job. He said he could not recall the details, but insisted there was no question he had hired Mr Coulson simply to curry favour with News International.

 

Brooks Told Cameron: We're In This Together

The tax authorities yesterday vowed to close down and claw back lost income from two legal tax-avoidance schemes that are estimated to have saved the comedian Jimmy Carr and members of Take That millions of pounds.

David Cameron looked to have scored a victory in his high-profile attack on Carr's tax affairs as "morally wrong" when the millionaire comedian issued a mea culpa saying he had made a "terrible error of judgement". Carr said he had now withdrawn from the Jersey-based "K2" scheme which reduced his income tax rate to about 1 per cent.

But amid anger in Tory ranks that Mr Cameron had drawn attention to tax-avoidance claims against its own billionaire donors, Downing Street was last night fighting a battle to avoid being drawn further into the row. Questioned by journalists, the Prime Minister refused to criticise Take That star Gary Barlow and – notwithstanding his comments on Carr – said he was not providing a "running commentary on different people's tax affairs".

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/take-that-on-taxmans-hit-list-after-carr-tweets-im-so-sorry-7873606.html

 

-----------------------------------

Pick and chose is the name of the game...

DAVID CAMERON is facing the fall-out from his controversial decision to publicly criticise comedian Jimmy Carr as "morally wrong" for using a legal tax avoidance scheme.

The Observer reports that one of the party's top donors was co-director of a tax avoidance scheme with Carr. "The Prime Minister made a mistake," says an "influential accountant" quoted in The Sunday Telegraph meanwhile, which reports criticism of the PM for singling Carr out in a prominent article.

Observer journalists have been busy combing the financial records at Companies House for a story which, the paper says, "is intensely embarrassing for David Cameron".

George Robinson – not to be confused with Labour's embarrassing 1990s paymaster-general Geoffrey Robinson – is one of the Conservatives' biggest donors, a hedge-fund manager who has given the party more than £250,000.

According to the Observer, he and Carr were among the 500 co-directors of a tax avoidance scheme – not the K2 scheme which prompted Carr to make a fulsome public apology, but a different scheme called 'Rushmore'.

Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/tax-avoidance/47597/backlash-over-pms-mistake-carr-tax-story-spirals#ixzz1ym1KQSaO

Detectives have evidence which suggests that a notorious private detective agency carried out a burglary while working for the News of the World.

In the latest twist to the phone-hacking scandal, a police intelligence report indicates that Southern Investigations, based in south London, targeted the home of a newsworthy individual in an attempt to dig up salacious information.

The Independent has established that the material – the first suggested link between the News of the World and burglary – is being held by Operation Tuleta, the police inquiry into illegal newsgathering techniques other than phone hacking and corruption. It refers to a "sortie" carried out into a woman's home in Ascot, Berkshire, and mentions the name of Alex Marunchak – a long-serving executive on the News of the World.

A police assessment indicated that Southern Investigations or an associate had "gained unauthorised access into a private domestic premises with a view to gaining information on the resident".

Separately, a former undercover policeman who infiltrated Southern Investigations said that it burgled MPs' homes in an attempt to obtain embarrassing information for the newspaper. All those involved in Southern Investigations, and Mr Marunchak, deny any involvement in break-ins or knowledge of any illegal acts.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/exclusive-news-of-the-world-ordered-burglary-8145238.html

The Prime Minister found himself in a bit of a bind this morning when he overestimated the correct price of a loaf of 'value' supermarket bread on a morning radio show, insisting instead that he made his own bread.

In an attempt to get Mr Cameron to prove he understood the cost of living for ordinary voters, LBC Radio presenter Nick Ferrari asked whether the Prime Minister could give the price of a loaf of the cheapest bread sold in major supermarkets.

He replied, “It's going to cost you north of a pound”. The actual price of such a loaf is 49 pence.

“I don't buy the value stuff. I have a breadmaker at home,” he said.

Mr Cameron again said that he is currently trying to persuade his young children to eat 'granary bread'.

The Prime Minister's political opponents often suggest that his privileged background makes it difficult for him to relate to ordinary voters.

Labour leader has previously compared Mr Cameron to “Flashman”, the bullying villain from the 19th century novel, Tom Brown's Schooldays, which is set in a public school.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/david-cameron-i-dont-know-the-price-of-value-bread--i-have-a-breadmaker-8851444.html