Elisabeth Murdoch yesterday confirmed she had asked for Rebekah Brooks to resign as News International chief executive last year, confirming details of a bitter family row over the handling of the phone-hacking crisis.
She told delegates at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival that her brother James should have taken a step back from his post at News Corporation during the furore.
Asked at a question-and-answer session yesterday whether she had said at the time that “Rebekah should resign and James should take a step back”, she replied this was true and that her remarks had been said “within closed walls”, and that Brooks had resigned.
She did not elaborate further about James, who remains News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer, but no longer with responsibility for News International.
Ms Murdoch was speaking a day after delivering a well-received MacTaggart keynote lecture at the festival, in which she rounded on her brother. – (Guardian service)