John Prescott on the News of the World hacking scandal [1/2] | 6 July 2011 - Lateline

Part 1/2 - Former Deputy British PM, John Prescott, speaks to Tony Jones on Lateline about the latest revelations from the News of the World Phone hacking scandal.

He expresses great concern about Rupert Murdoch's plan to takeover BSkyB and closes the interview by saying "Watch him in Australia as well."

Lateline -- ABC1
Broadcast: 6 July 2011 22:30 AEST
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• John
• Prescott
• news
• of
• the
• world
• phone
• hacking
• scandal
• revelations
• newspaper
• Rupert
• Murdoch
• bskyb
• sky
• Britain
• England
• abc
• Australia
• lateline
• murder

[felix3840]

@fozzyposh I think the reason the public don't mind politicians having their phones hacked is because they believe, and so do I, that someone needs to keep an eye on them. They make laws, they (illegally) take us to war, they endlessly try to remove our civil liberties and they fiddle their expenses. And, incidentally, John Prescott did all of those things

But celebrities should not be hacked and Milly Dowler certainly should not have been.

[felix3840]

What Prescott is doing here is shamelessly exploiting Milly Dowler for his own ends. He has long been claiming that his phone was hacked, which is probably true. But to his dismay, nobody gave a damn. The public actually believe that sleazy politicians - and they don’t come much sleazier than Prescott - should have their phones hacked, but they quite rightly hate News International for hacking Milly’s phone. And Prescott is milking that entirely for his own gain.

[sacsofmoney]

John Prescot looks more sad and upset than angry

[fozzyposh]

One thing Prescott said is, I feel, very true: nobody cared when it was just celebs and politicians getting their phones hacked. Why is it that we only care when its soldiers families and families fo the deceased?

The public are at fault for funding N.I by buying their papers and for not caring when the first reports came through, N.I would never have tried any of this hacking against members of the public if people has the bollox to speak out against the hacking of politicians and celebs.

[opsvideo2008]

Mr John Prescott certainly presented a very lucid picture of the whole scandal.

[felix3840]

@MrWarrenross Then all Prescott has to do is publicly pledge that any compensation he receives will go to charity, and his contribution will, at a stroke, become even more powerful.

Steve Coogan has done it and George Galloway has also hinted that he will give away any award he receives. So why won't Prescott make the same promise?

[MrWarrenross]

I share your astonishment. Prescott's comments are the most lucid and powerful I have heard on the subject. I watched it on ABC's Lateline programme at the time. Murdoch has been privatising Government public relations since 1972. In 1975, he showed his future form when he ran a one month campaign to destroy a progressive Government (Whitlam). A couple of hundred people on News Limited to stop the paper delivery trucks getting out. His journalists went on strike over editorial bias.

[MrWarrenross]

@felix3840 - Prescott's contribution to the debate is powerful and carries a serious warning for our democracies. It is not about money.