Downing Street Says

» Monday, January 24, 2011

Sky

Asked whether the Prime Minister would be meeting Rupert Murdoch this week, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that we wouldn’t normally give a list of the Prime Minister’s meetings at the beginning of a week, but they shouldn’t read anything into that. The process was that we published the meetings that the Prime Minister had had.

Put that it was reported that the Prime Minister had met James Murdoch over Christmas and had they discussed the Newscorp bid from BSkyB, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister met with people from the media from time to time. On the bid process, there was a very clear process laid out; the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt would make the decision and it was his decision alone.

Asked if it would be appropriate for the Prime Minister to have discussions with James Murdoch during that process, the PMS said that Jeremy Hunt took the decision, which was informed by a report from the Office of Fair Trading. The PMS added that the Prime Minister had no role in that process.

When asked if the Prime Minister’s meeting with James Murdoch was deemed to be unofficial’, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister met people from the media from time to time. Asked if the meeting had been a private meeting, the PMS advised that people would need to wait for the list of meetings to be published.

Put that it was up to the Prime Minister which meetings he chose to publish, the PMS said that we had an established process on the matter.

Put that the meeting with James Murdoch at Christmas could have a very important bearing on the outcome of the decision, the PMS replied that it would have no bearing on that decision.

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» Monday, January 24, 2011

Sky

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