Phone hacking unmasked

The tip-off comes from Simon Kelner, the former editor of the Independent, who as a media commentator and Woodstock resident is well placed to throw light on the scandal.

Never mind the Chipping Norton set — none of the power hungry, affluent media moguls and politicians actually lived in Chipping Norton in any case — Mr Kelner once belonged to the Blenheim Palace Estate grouping.

He lived on the palace estate at a time when it was also home to the likes of Rebekah Brooks (who then edited the Sun) and Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth and her husband, the public relations man Matthew Freud.

So, in many ways, Woodstock is a fitting place to host a major debate on the whole issue of phone hacking, as it will during this year’s Independent Woodstock Literary Festival, which runs from September 14 to 18, with The Oxford Times again among the sponsors.

Mr Kelner will be chairing the discussion, which will feature leading columnists and writers such as Stephen Glover, David Aaronovitch and Patrick Jephson, the first and only private secretary (chief of staff) to Diana Princess of Wales. The film star Hugh Grant, one of the first public figures to demand a public inquiry into phone hacking, is also expected to make a guest appearance.

Mr Kelner, who this summer was replaced as editor of the Independent after 13 years, now lives just a few yards away from the entrance to Blenheim in an historic house he fell in love with soon after moving to Woodstock about eight years ago.

It was once home to the brother of another celebrated man of letters, Geoffrey Chaucer, and the father of English literature apparently frequently stayed there.

When it comes to greed, lies and hypocrisy, the hacking saga certainly can boast a cast of characters to rival anything in The Canterbury Tales.

“We all know it took place,” said Mr Kelner. “We all know it wasn’t right. But I hope we will look at the lessons we can learn from what has gone on. Two years ago it was the bankers, last year MPs and this year it is newspapers who are suffering from a massive crisis in public confidence. Yet without a relationship of trust with their readers, newspapers are nothing.”

Phone hacking, he tells me, is something that he had never come across in his own journalistic career, which has seen him land two editor of the year awards.

“You know what, it was completely new to me,” he said. “Because it is such a big scandal and has lasted so long, the public has the idea that every journalist at every newspaper was doing it. Yet the scandal has so far almost exclusively revolved around one newspaper that doesn’t exist any more.”

Yes, but would he have known if it was rife on his watch?

“It’s possible it could have happened. But I would have hoped enough processes were in place at various levels, so if a story was presented the sources would be challenged.”

For senior editorial staff at News International not to have known what was going on, would stretch credulity to the absolute limit, he insists. “It will all come out in the fullness of time at the public inquiry and police inquiry.”

But he feels no embarrassment about his relationships with some figures at the centre of the storm.

“Rebekah Brooks had a house in the grounds of Blenheim Palace at the same time, so it was obvious that we saw each other socially. I always regarded her as a sort of colleague and competitor.”

The friendship, however, came to an abrupt end when Ms Brooks, accompanied by her boss James Murdoch, angrily stormed into Mr Kelner’s office at the Independent, shortly before the election, for a shouting match that has now passed into legend.

The News International pair wanted to express their displeasure abut an Independent publicity campaign using posters that attacked Rupert Murdoch.

“I’ve worked in newspapers for 30 years but that really was the most astonishing thing. I was working on the front page at about 5.30 in the afternoon and looked up and there they were.

“There was a frank and forthright exchange of views. Subsequently, I though it just reflected the pressure that they were working under. I’ve seen her since at a party. We had a joke about it.”

He believes that his phone has certainly been hacked but hardly expects to be viewed as a victim.

“I think the public have become desensitised about big Hollywood stars being hacked. They think the likes of Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller can look after themselves. Public revulsion moved into a different sphere with the hacking of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s mobile phone.

“There is an argument that it is all about the media talking about the media. I believe it is a story of how power and influence has been exercised in a criminal way.”

Mr Kelner thinks the public are also right to feel anger about the relationship between politicians and the press.

“I think when it emerges that Tony Blair was godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch’s children the public has got a right to ask questions.

“As an editor, I don’t think you should be friendly with anyone you might write about. You cannot be friends with someone and the next day go in to write about them. It compromises your journalism.

“But editors should have a dialogue with senior politicians. If I’m invited for dinner, I will go. It doesn’t mean you’re in their pocket, or they are in yours.”

As editor in chief of the Independent, he reckons to have enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinner at Number 10, though never on the same day he points out.

And David Cameron? “I sat next to him at Jeremy Clarkson’s New Year’s Eve party,” he said.” It was before he became Prime Minister. I like Cameron socially.”

In his column he has expressed respect that the Prime Minister has shown continued loyalty to ex-News of the World man Andy Coulson, as someone he had worked closely with for years.

For Mr Kelner the least edifying spectacle is Labour MPs laying into News International after years of sucking up to Rupert Murdoch.

At the festival, Mr Kelner will also be interviewing former Chancellor Alistair Darling abut his memoirs Back from the Brink, 1,000 Days at No 11.

His departure from the editor’s chair at the Independent, where he pioneered the compact revolution and launched the sister paper i, has sparked plenty of speculation.

Some commentators suggest a terse announcement to staff of his resignation, accompanied by an 11-word quote from the publisher, point to a sad end to his 13-year reign.

Others have tried to link his departure to his decision to defend star columnist Johann Hari in an online plagiarism row.

Mr Kelner dismisses any such connection.

“We had got to the point where we had been taken over by new owners. They wanted someone else to give it a go and I supported that view.”

Mr Kelner still writes a daily column in i and remains a non-executive director at Independent Newspapers.

It’s certainly a happier fate than might be awaiting some senior newspaper figures once the hacking inquiries are complete.

• The Independent debate on phone hacking will take place on Saturday, September 17, at St Mary Magdalene Church at 2pm. Tickets are priced at £5.