‘He also said Watson had received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from privacy campaigner Max Mosley, prompting Commons Speaker John Bercow to intervene and demand the Tory MP clarify exactly what he meant.
Rees-Mogg said: “May I begin by declaring my inherited interest in this subject but perhaps also jog the mind of Mr Watson on the half a million pounds he received from Mr Mosley which may have some bearing on these matters.
“What I want to ask Mrs Bradley is whether she will be certain not to involve herself in this socialist witch hunt against Mr Murdoch and news corporation Fox News which has done so much, both through newspapers, publishing and efficiency after Wapping and through the launch of Sky News, to increase plurality in the media in this country, a wonderfully successful company that should not be persecuted because the left doesn’t like it.”
Bercow intervened and said: “Can I just say to you that I’m sure you are not suggesting, and I hope you will take the opportunity to make clear, that you are not suggesting that pecuniary gain has influenced a member in his thinking or statements in the chamber?”
Rees-Mogg said: “Most certainly not. I was merely declaring my own interest and it occurred to me it was only fair to remind Mr Watson that he had not referred to his interest and the half a million pounds he received which I’m absolutely certain was an inadvertent oversight.”
Watson has received donations worth £500,000 from Mr Mosley over the last 12 months.
Mosley is the primary financial backer of the Impress press regulator which was set up in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics.’
Extract from: Sky take-over: Labour MPs question James Murdoch character and involvement in phone-hacking email deletion
