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News International 'bullied Liberal Democrats over BSkyB bid'

July 24, 2011 12:38 PM

murdoch bully• [Jul 24] Henry Porter and Toby Helm write: RUPERT Murdoch's News International launched a campaign of bullying against senior Liberal Democrats in an attempt to force through the company's bid for BSkyB, high-level sources have told the Observer.

Lib Dem insiders say NI officials took their lobbying campaign well beyond acceptable limits and even threatened, last autumn, to persecute the party if Vince Cable, the business secretary, did not advance its case . . The pressure on the Lib Dems was at its most intense around the time that Cable decided to refer the BSkyB bid to Ofcom. However, it relented after Cable was removed by David Cameron from responsibility for the bid when he was taped by undercover reporters from the Daily Telegraph attacking Murdoch . .

• News International 'bullied Liberal Democrats over BSkyB bid' [Observer Jul 24]

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