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Cock a doodle doo

Jenny Diski · Cameron v. Murdoch

Cameron v. Murdoch

There's nothing even remotely surprising about the Cruddas 'bluster', or the fact of Cameron's 'kitchen suppers'(the latest thing in cool dining) for top Tory party donors. Though the class aspect is a bit interesting. Peter Cruddas was offered the post of Tory party co-treasurer in June 2011, taking over from David Rowland, and sharing with Lord Fink, both high-level donors themselves who have both been present at dinners chez Sam and Dave. But, although Peter Cruddas's donation of £382,451 in (you guessed it) 2011 is well over the Premier League sum of £250,000 requirement for intimate invitations, Cruddas, unlike Fink and Rowland was not, as Cameron has carefully pointed out, one of the boys shooting the breeze around the prime minister's kitchen table.

Cruddas is a billionaire whose journey 'from East End lad to "Monaco Boy"’ has left him with the voice of a market trader of the sort that sells winkles rather than shares. He's rich, he's useful, but he really isn't quite right for the Cheltenham, Eton, Bullingdon, Number Ten set. Excellent for Tory PR in the Conservative Home Gazette:

Today's Daily Mail reports that as the son of a meat porter in the East End, he left school at fifteen, yet has gone on to become Britain's fifteenth richest man.

But he just won't do for intimate billionaire suppers. Please note that 'yet', all you Tories from the East End, or from 'hard-working families'.

The great pleasure for me, however, in the Cruddas affair, is the stink of the cockpit as Murdoch's Sunday Times scams Cameron's Tory party after Cameron (resisting all the way, of course) sets the Leveson Inquiry in motion. My favourite tweeter, Rupert Murdoch tweeted on Sunday:

Great Sunday Times scoop. What was Cameron thinking? No-one, rightly or wrongly, will believe his story.

Of course there must be a full independent inquiry on both sides. In great detail, and with consequences. Trust must be established.

I say 'tweeted', but I mean 'crowed'. Who couldn't see the Murdoch retribution coming? Cameron. Who couldn't see that eventually the illegal doings of News International would come to light? The Murdochs. So although I'm generally averse to blood sports, I've settled into a ringside seat for this brawl, in the knowledge that it's not just pure entertainment, but that the likely outcome of a cock fight is the bloody death of both vicious creatures. Today, a nasty gash has appeared on the Murdoch bird as his possible (I use the word merely legally) involvement with On Digital's crash is exposed. More, more...

murdoch cameron

Comments

  • 29 March 2012 at 9:11am
    streetsj says:
    I met Cruddas once. He has cold, piercing blue eyes that are rather sinister: an archetypal James Bond villain sans chat. As he saw me out to the lift i felt the need to check the lift was indeed there.
    I'm fairly sure he's a tax exile too - living in Monaco. There was a comical moment in my meeting when the phone rang and he started speaking in franglais to his housekeeper (?) about arrangements for le weekend.
  • 29 March 2012 at 4:06pm
    gotnotruck says:
    Though we have classes on the other side of the pond, I had a hard time interpreting British class speak. There are classes here, but you can buy your way in. Was it really inevitable this scandal would break? Frontline, a PBS show covered Murdoch, the governments, (all of them), no matter which party, and the police. It sounded as if The Guardian and one brave man with MS whose name I've forgotten were the only ones involved in a very uphill fight to bring Murdoch down. The Guardian gave (grudging) credit to The New York Times, which on NPR, (our BBC) a Guardian (editor?) after saying they helped, claimed they didn't read, for covering the story and giving them legitimacy and backing. More than a few commenters on that interview were upset Guardian Guy went out of his way to say he didn't read the Times, when they read the Guardian. The G also claimed we were feeling schadenfreude about your suffering over there. Quite the contrary. We hope The Wall St Journal and, most of all, Fox, ("Fix") News will be brought down too. There are problems at the WSJ, but so far none at Fox, (which may have some relationship with BSKYB? If so, don't let it in!) Roger Ailles, Republican Operative Extraordinaire and James Bond villain, runs Fox. Rupert is scared of him with good reason. And Fox doesn't need to hack phones; it makes up "news" out of whole cloth. The debate STILL isn't settled as to whether Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya. The birth certificate he released was "forged" Plus Fox is a stage for Republican hopefuls and candidates, giving their own shows until they run.