Culture committee to Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks:
"The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee has this morning received letters from Rupert Murdoch, Chair and CEO of News Corporation, James Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation (International), and Rebekah Brooks, Chief Executive of News International, in response to its invitation to appear before the Committee.
Rebekah Brooks has accepted the invitation to appear before the Committee next week. Rupert Murdoch has indicated he is unable to attend to give evidence, and James Murdoch has indicated he is unable to attend on the specified date but offered to appear at an alternative date, the earliest of which was August 10th. The letters are attached.
The Committee has made clear its view that all three should appear to account for the behaviour of News International and for previous statements made to the Committee in Parliament, now acknowledged to be false.
Accordingly, the Committee has this morning decided to summon Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch to appear before the Select Committee in Parliament at 2.30pm on Tuesday 19 July 2011."
Responses form the three after the fold..
Dear John,
Thank you for your letter of 12 July, on behalf of the committee, inviting me to give evidence to you on 19 July.
Unfortunately, I am not available to attend the session you have planned next Tuesday. However, I am fully prepared to give evidence to the forthcoming judge-led public inquiry and I will be taking steps to notify those conducting the inquiry of my willingness to do so. Having done this, I would be happy to discuss with you how best to give evidence to your committee.
I hope this is of help.
Yours sincerely,
Rupert Murdoch
Dear John
Thank you for your letter of 12 July, on behalf of the committee, inviting me to give evidence to you on 19 July.
Unfortunately I am not available to attend the session you have planned next Tuesday.
However, I would be pleased to give evidence to your committee on either the 10 or 11 August. Naturally, if neither of these proves suitable I would be willing to consider any alternative dates you suggest.
I hope this is of help to the committee.
Yours sincerely,
James Murdoch
Dear John,
Thank you for your letter of 12 July, on behalf of the committee, inviting me to give evidence to you on 19 July.
I am writing to confirm that I am available to appear before the committee on that date and welcome the opportunity to do so.
As you are well aware, the Metropolitan police investigation into illegal voicemail interception continues and we are fully cooperating with that. Aspects of the work to which your committee may wish to refer are likely to be relevant to that investigation. Indeed, the police have already asked us specifically to provide information about those matters.
I understand that various select committees have approached the police over time in relation to this and other cases. The police's position has been to co-operate where this did not directly impact on the investigation in question. In those cases where it did potentially impact, the police have historically declined to comment at that stage. Our understanding is that this approach has not been challenged. Given that we are in the midst of an investigation, and we do not want to prejudice it, I hope you will understand why we feel it would not be appropriate to respond to such questions at present in order to be consistent with [the] police's approach, and that as a result this may prevent me from discussing these matters in detail.
I hope this is of help, and look forward to hearing from you to discuss exact timings and other details.
Yours sincerely,
Rebekah Brooks
A summons has been issued to Rupert and James Murdoch by the Serjeant at Arms: http://www.irishtimes.com/...
Summons issued to Murdoch
A summons has been issued to compel News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son James to come before a parliamentary committee to give evidence on the phone hacking scandal in London next week.
The summons was issued by the House of Commons culture and media committee after it received letters from Rupert Murdoch, his son and News International's Rebekah Brooks.
Mr Murdoch told the committee he could not attend. James Murdoch said he could at a later date while Ms Brooks agreed to give evidence at next week's hearing.
Culture committee chairman John Whittingdale said he had asked the deputy sergeant at arms, Mike Naworynsky, to visit News Corp's British headquarters today and issue the Murdochs with a formal summons. Ignoring it would lead to them being in contempt of parliament, he said.
"Rupert Murdoch has declined to appear and James has offered August as the earliest date he can appear," Mr Whittingdale said.
"We meet at on Tuesday at 2.30pm. Either they attend or we report their failure to attend to the House. Then we are in uncharted territory," he said. "We will expect them to respond to the summons."
If they don't, "that is a matter that I would report to the House of Commons as a whole" and the Commons will decide how to proceed.
More when I get it, promise!
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