LONDON: Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks – a pivotal figure in Britain’s tabloid phone hacking saga – told the country’s media ethics inquiry on Friday that Prime Minister David Cameron commiserated with her after she quit in the wake of the scandal.
Brooks, 43, resigned in July as chief executive of News International, Murdoch’s British newspaper operation, and has twice been arrested and questioned by police about illegal eavesdropping and obstruction of justice.
She told the inquiry of her close ties to those in power and acknowledged she received messages of support from politicians including Cameron and former Prime Minister Tony Blair when she stepped down.
Known for her striking red curls and meteoric rise from secretary to editor at News of the World, Brooks acknowledged that Blair had also attended her 40th birthday party – hosted at Murdoch’s home.
The ethics inquiry is focusing on links between British politicians and the press, chiefly Murdoch’s media empire.
British parties of all political persuasions had long tussled for support of the mogul’s best-selling tabloids, whose backing was credited with the power to swing elections.
As the phone hacking scandal unfolded, unease has grown about what favors the newspapers may have received in return for editorial support.
Brooks acknowledged on Friday that she had received “indirect messages” – seemingly SMS messages sent by the aides of politicians, but relaying their personal thoughts – after she stepped down.
“I received some indirect messages from No. 10, No. 11, the Home Office and Foreign Office,” Brooks said, referring to Cameron, Treasury chief George Osborne, Home Secretary Theresa May and Foreign Secretary William Hague.
She agreed with inquiry lawyer Robert Jay that a message from Cameron had told her to “keep your head up” and expressed regret that he could not be more loyal because of the political pressure he was under over the hacking scandal.
The message was “along those lines, I don’t think they were the exact words,” Brooks said.
Meanwhile, known for using the Internet and new media, British Prime Minister David Cameron somehow believed that ‘LOL’ meant ‘Lots of Love’ when sending texts to Rebekah Brooks, until she enlightened him that it actually meant ‘Laugh Out Loud’. Brooks revealed Cameron’s knowledge of texting language while deposing before the Leveson Inquiry on media ethics today. Brooks, who said she had family relations with Cameron through her husband, said the prime ministerial texts would often be signed off as ‘DC’. She said: “Occasionally he would sign them off ‘LOL’, lots of love, until I told him it meant ‘laugh out loud’.”(Agencies)