Image from a quicklink (Image by Unknown Owner) Details DMCA | The admission is one of the clearest signs yet of the deeply close ties that Blair's Labour party cultivated with Murdoch after decades of poisonous relations. Top members in the party were convinced that Murdoch held the key to their electoral success, especially after 1992, when The Sun famously proclaimed that it had played a crucial role in Labour's shock loss to John Major. As Blair turned the party rightward, he also began a campaign to woo Murdoch. In the most infamous incident, he even flew to Australia in 1995 to attend a News Corp. conference. Blair's plan paid off when the Murdoch press endorsed Labour in 1997.
Even with all of that history, the news of the depth of Blair's relationship with Murdoch is still sure to cause controversy in the midst of the phone hacking scandal. The scandal first broke in 2006, while Blair was still the Prime Minister. |