Labour figures deny News International deal
Tessa Jowell and Lord Mandelson have denied there was any deal struck between New Labour and News International.
Speaking at the Leveson Inquiry, Ms Jowell said: "I asked [Tony Blair] whether any deal had been done with Rupert Murdoch on the reform of cross-media ownership rules. He gave me an absolute assurance there had been no prior agreement.”
Lord Mandelson, also giving evidence to the Inquiry, said: “I simply do not believe such a deal happened.”
Ms Jowell, a former Culture Secretary, spoke about her personal experience of phone-hacking, stating that the media had shown an “obsessive curiosity about my private life and my family."