London, May 29: Admitting that politicians and press interact closely, former British prime minister Tony Blair told the Leveson inquiry investigating links between the two on Monday that he had got too close to the Murdoch group, but defended his relationship with newspapers as "virtually inevitable and sensible" for senior politicians.
Simultaneously, he said, "Draining of the poison from the culture is the real challenge ," adding that the use of newspapers as instruments of political power created a relationship that was "unhealthy" . "It needs to be sorted out. It's got to be sorted out," said Blair during the four-hour hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice (or the high court) in London. He said he met editors and media owners 300 times during his term as Prime Minister.
Blair testified that he never challenged the press because doing so would have plunged his government in a drawn out damaging fight, but also said that if push had come to shove, he would have "fought back the press." The hearing was rudely interrupted by an intruder into the courtroom from behind Lord Justice Brian Leveson, screaming Blair was "a war criminal" .
It was a serious breach of security as the man entered through a "secure corridor" . "I am very sorry for that Mr Blair," Leveson said, clearly shocked. He ordered an investigation into the incident.
The protestor was identified as David Lawley Wakelin from a group called Alternative Iraq Inquiry.
On Murdoch, he said, "We were dealing with very powerful people who had a big impact on the political system." He admitted he had travelled to Australia to meet Murdoch in 1995 to persuade him to switch his British newspapers' loyalties from the Conservative party to his Labour party for the 1997 general election, which he succeeded in doing.
He also conceded that he asked Murdoch before the general election in 2001 whether the support would continue. The media magnate responded, according to Blair, by saying the Conservatives were "unelectable" . But he was at pains to stress his independence from Murdoch, saying , "If the press had had turned on me, I would have fought back."
Blair confirmed that he texted the high-profile Rebekah Brooks, when she resigned as head of Murdoch's operations in the UK last July. He justified this by saying he didn't believe in being a "fair weather friend" .
Brooks was this month charged with perjury. The Leveson inquiry was set up by Prime Minister David Cameron after News of the World, a Sunday tabloid owned by the Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corporation, was charged with hacking into mobile phone of a teenaged girl who was later found dead.
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