Rupert Murdoch, Tony Blair and me

Thursday 23 June 1994

Tea with Tony Blair. I pressed him to think [about] how he was going to deal with the power structure. He confirmed that he will go for disclosure of political donations and also that he will disqualify hereditary peers from voting in the Lords. On the media he was noncommittal. I told him that we won't survive unless we tackle ownership. He listened, but said nothing except that they could do us an awful lot of damage. I suspect he will err on the side of caution, but I shall keep badgering.

Wednesday 20 July 1994

To the chamber for a debate on the newspaper price war triggered by [Rupert] Murdoch's attempt to sink the Independent and the Telegraph. I had intended just to listen, but in the end felt inspired to make a little speech along the lines that Murdoch was polluting our culture and something must be done about him.

Tuesday 9 August 1994

Awoke to hear that Murdoch has said he could "imagine" backing Blair. I can imagine him backing Blair, too, but solely as a means of protecting his assets if he thinks there is going to be a Labour victory. There is bound to be a lot of free lunching going on between now and the next election. I pray we don't fall for it, though I can't say I'm entirely confident.

Thursday 17 November 1994

A meeting with Tony Blair at his request. We talked about his (recent) dinner with Murdoch. Tony said he had the impression that these days Murdoch's principal interests were in Asia. "If he thinks we are going to win, he'll be easy on us, but if he thought we could lose, he will turn on us." He added: "If the press behave badly during the election campaign, I will stop everything for two days and we will have a debate about what they are up to, who owns them, the lot."

"Did you say that to Murdoch?"

"Not in so many words."

Wednesday 11 January 1995

I moved my Media Diversity Bill, aimed as much at our front bench as at the government. I was lucky with the timing. There were no statements so I had a good audience and the BBC televised my speech live.

Thursday 2 March 1995

Lunch with [Mirror Group chief executive] David Montgomery. He worked for Murdoch – or Rupert, as he called him – all through the siege of Wapping and it hadn't occurred to me how much David despised Murdoch or shared my fear of his growing power. "Rupert has contempt for the rules. Contempt even for governments. He can't enjoy success unless he is causing someone else pain." I said at least Murdoch was getting old, but David replied that he was only 64 and pursuing his campaign for world domination with increasing urgency. Also, there were three little Murdochs, two sons and a daughter, coming up behind.

Friday 24 March 1995

A call from Jonathan Powell, the new head of Tony Blair's office. Had I seen the article in today's FT suggesting that Labour had no plans to do anything about Murdoch? I hadn't. "Well, Tony just wanted to let you know there is no truth in it." I said I was quite content for Murdoch to believe that we weren't going to do anything, just so long as he was wrong.

Wednesday 24 May 1995

To Channel 4 to see Michael Grade. I put it to him that we should go for Murdoch with the aim of seeing him off the premises within two or three years. He believes it's feasible, but that Tony Blair and [shadow heritage minister] Chris Smith lacked the political courage. He described the Sun as "the house magazine of yob culture".

Wednesday 21 June 1995

Lunch with Gerry Robinson (chairman of the Granada Group), who in January I denounced as a ruthless profiteer. As is so often the case with one's ogres, he turned out to be much nicer than his reputation suggests. He does not share the general loathing of Murdoch. On the contrary, he is an admirer. He would not limit Murdoch's ownership of satellite TV. Murdoch, he says, took a big risk with Sky and should be allowed to benefit from its success. He did, however, think that the rules requiring a minimum level of domestic content should apply to Murdoch, too.

Wednesday 14 February 1996

[BBC radio head] Liz Forgan came to dinner. Afterwards we wandered around the House of Lords and in the Royal Gallery we ran into [Labour heritage spokesman] Bernard Donoughue who alleged, citing a Tory source, that Mrs Thatcher had sent a draft of the 1990 Broadcasting Bill round to Murdoch's lawyers and allowed them to make deletions as they saw fit.

Tuesday 2 July 1996

Another foray into the Broadcasting Bill. This time on cross-media ownership. The Bill proposes that any national newspaper company with more than 20% of the market should not be allowed to buy into television. Incredibly, [shadow heritage minister] Jack Cunningham and [Labour broadcasting and telecommunications spokesman] Lewis Moonie are arguing that all restrictions should be removed and the market allowed to let rip, subject to a public interest test to be enforced by the Monopolies Commission (which so far has proved utterly useless) or the Independent Television Commission. I tabled an amendment that would have excluded all the tabloids on the grounds that those who have given us junk journalism ought not to be allowed to give us junk TV. Jack asked me – gently, it has to be said – to withdraw. I declined. In the event, my amendment attracted about 75 votes.

Saturday 4 January 1997

Spent the morning on the first draft of a paper on what to do about Rupert Murdoch. Seventeen hundred words. They have been on my mind for a long time and spilled easily from my computer. Potentially the greatest contribution I can ever hope to make to British politics or culture. On the other hand, it may come to nothing. Top secret until after the election, when I will arrange for [Blair's parliamentary private secretary] Bruce Grocott to put it personally into the hands of The Main Person.

Friday 17 January 1997

I whiled away most of the day reading Andrew Neil's book Full Disclosure. Essential reading for anyone under the illusion that New Labour can live with Murdoch. Neil writes: "When you work for Rupert Murdoch, you are a courtier at the court of the Sun King – rewarded with money and status by a grateful king as long as you serve his purpose … All life revolves around the Sun King. All authority comes from him … The Sun King is everywhere even when he is nowhere. He rules over great distances through authority, loyalty, example and fear. He can be benign or ruthless … He may intervene in matters great or small: you never know where or when, which is what keeps you on your toes and the King constantly on your mind. 'I wonder how the King is today', is the first question that springs to the good courtier's mind when he wakes up every day."

Monday 17 March 1997

The chief whip, Donald Dewar, took me aside. "Have you heard about tomorrow's Sun?"

"No."

"Murdoch is coming out for us. I know you've got strong views on the subject, some of which I share, but I'd be grateful if you could refrain from commenting."

I agreed – until 2 May.

Tuesday 18 March 1997

Sure enough today's Sun is covered in "We back Blair". Inside there are two pages of justification. Every word reeks of cynicism. If we had the guts, we should keep quiet until 1 May and strike with deadly force in the first week. We won't though. We haven't neutralised Murdoch. He's neutralised us.

[On 1 May Labour wins the election with a landslide majority]

Tuesday 3 June 1997

A brief chat with Bruce Grocott about my Murdoch memorandum. I was relying on Bruce to put it in The Man's hands, but Bruce said I should give it to Chris Smith, the heritage secretary, which will be a fat lot of use. Bruce says he has raised the subject with The Man several times. "He listens impassively, but does not respond."

Tuesday 15 July 1997

John Major invited me to his room for a chat. After offering congratulations on my chairmanship of the Home Affairs Committee he said: "I was hoping you'd chair Heritage so you could sink your teeth into our common enemy." Murdoch, he said, had done great damage, both here and in Australia.

"Look who owns our media. Harmsworth, Black, Murdoch. They all live abroad and pay little or no tax." John was as passionate as I've ever seen him get. He said we should move against foreign ownership. "You'd be surprised how much support you'd get from our side." We should also tighten the limits on cross-media ownership. The EC would probably be helpful. "You will have forgotten," I said, "but I introduced a 10-minute rule bill on precisely these points. Indeed, I raised it once with you at question time."

"I had not forgotten," he said. "That's why I am raising it with you now."

Thursday 13 November 1997

Ran into John Major. We had another conversation about Murdoch. He talked of "the damage he did to your party in the early 80s and mine in the early 90s". I asked what could be done, given that The Tyrant would unleash the full force of his empire against anyone who tried to tame him. "The only way is a two-party alliance," he said.

Monday 9 February 1998

To the Lords for the debate on [Lib Dem frontbencher] Tom McNally's amendment to the Competition Bill, designed to stop Murdoch sinking his competitors by predatory pricing. Apart from the minister, the only people to speak up for Murdoch seemed to be in his employ – two non-executive directors of the Times and a columnist. The amendment was comfortably carried with many rebels on our side. Now the government must decide whether to remove it. A nice little crisis brewing.

Wednesday 11 February 1998

At the parliamentary committee, The Man was adamant that the McNally amendment would have to go. The Competition Bill was intended to bring our law into line with that elsewhere in Europe. There was no case for going further (except, I said to myself, that we've got Murdoch and they haven't).

At about 11pm I came across John Major letting himself into his room and asked what he thought of the McNally amendment. He invited me in and opened a bottle of wine. I was there for an hour. We talked about everything from Saddam Hussein to welfare reform. On Murdoch, John said he didn't think we could attract the Tory right, who didn't like Murdoch, but believed in unfettered competition. As to what he would do, he was non-committal, but he did say that he wasn't interested in taking on Murdoch "unless we could inflict a fatal blow".

Wednesday 29 April 1998

[Labour backbencher] Giles Radice and I have tabled an amendment to the Competition Bill, outlawing predatory pricing. John Hutton, Margaret Beckett's parliamentary private secretary, says our masters are getting twitchy about it. He asked whether I had received a call from No 10. I haven't, but I can't speak for Giles.

Tuesday 5 May 1998

Our masters, having spotted that Giles and I are unlikely bedfellows, are trying to drive a wedge between us. On Friday, with a European summit and Middle East peace talks about to commence, The Man found 45 minutes to see Giles in an attempt to persuade him to get back on message. Giles claims to have conceded nothing. Unwisely, however, he did hand over a copy of a letter from the House of Commons library suggesting a couple of possible amendments.

Later, a call from Beckett's office. Would Giles and I care to stop by this evening to discuss the Competition Bill? And by the way, the solicitor general will be present. We really do have their attention.

Monday 1 June 1998

A question to Chris Smith about the rapidly declining quality of commercial television and what, if anything, he was going to do about it. The answer – that it was a matter for the Independent Television Commission – was pathetic. I told him so when I ran into him in the post office and he grinned sheepishly. I asked what plans he had for bringing Sky within the existing regulations. There were, he said, technical difficulties, given that Sky was based in Luxembourg. I replied that this shouldn't be a problem since most of its assets were located here. At this point, his tack changed.

"There is also prime ministerial interest in the matter, but I haven't told you that last part."

Wednesday 8 July 1998

We debated the Competition Bill. Despite rumours, the government conceded nothing. Giles moved his amendment and then withdrew it. I pressed mine to a vote. There ensued some good-natured banter as I stood at the entrance to the division lobbies calling "friends of Murdoch this way" (indicating the Noes lobby) and "free press that way" (indicating the "Ayes"). Several people went into the government lobby holding their noses. We got about 70 votes, mainly from Lib Dems and Nationalists, plus about 25 from our side, not even all the usual suspects. Disappointing. Suddenly we are back in the land of token gestures, just as things were looking up.

Chris Mullin was the MP for Sunderland South from 1987-2010.

Extracted from A Walk-On Part, the final volume of Chris Mullin's diaries, published by Profile at £25. To order a copy for £20, with free UK p&p, go to theguardian.com/bookshop, or call 0330 333 6846.