UK BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable was last night stripped of his authority to rule on Rupert Murdoch’s bid to take full control of Sky Television by prime minister David Cameron. The humiliation for Mr Cable came hours after it emerged he had privately said he was “at war” with the media magnate.
His unguarded remarks to two Daily Telegraphreporters, who had posed as residents in his Twickenham constituency, were made in defence of the performance of the Liberal Democrats in government. "I am picking my fights, some of which you may have seen, some of which you haven't seen," he said. "And I don't know if you have been following what has been happening with the Murdoch press, where I have declared war on Mr Murdoch and I think we are going to win."
Mr Cable's remarks were not used by the Telegraphyesterday morning, which instead concentrated on his claims that he could bring down the Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition. The omission led to charges that the Telegraphhad deliberately not published them because it opposed the bid by Mr Murdoch's News Corporation to take its 39.1 per cent stake in BSkyB to 100 per cent. However, they were subsequently leaked to the BBC.
The latest controversy surrounding Mr Murdoch came on the day that the European Commission decided not to put any obstacles in the way of the £7.8 billion takeover bid, saying it would not “significantly impede” competition.
However, a final decision will rest with the British government since it “remains free to decide whether or not to take appropriate measures to protect its legitimate interests in media plurality”, the commission said.
Mr Cable has been waiting for a report on the takeover from independent regulator Ofcom before deciding in a quasi-judicial role whether to refer the issue on to the competition commission for a full investigation of the plurality issues. Prior to yesterday Mr Cable had powers to either block the bid, to allow it to take place without restrictions, or to demand concessions from Mr Murdoch before allowing it to go ahead.
Following a series of meetings in Downing Street, the prime minister issued a statement, showing anger with Mr Cable: “The prime minister is clear that Mr Cable’s comments were totally unacceptable and inappropriate.”
Responsibility for all competition issues surrounding media, broadcasting, digital and telecoms sectors will be transferred immediately to the Conservative secretary of state for culture, media and sport Jeremy Hunt.
The events of the last 24 hours have created a major political problem for Mr Cameron. If Mr Hunt in time decides to allow the takeover, the Conservatives will be accused of doing so to keep in favour with Mr Murdoch’s News Corporation, which controls some of the biggest newspapers in the United Kingdom, including the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World.
Equally, it has complicated life for an increasingly embattled Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who has already faced a rebellion from some of his MPs over an increase in tuition fees. He is accused by many of his grassroot supporters of tying himself and the party too closely to the Conservative leader.
