His face bore the look of someone who had sat down suddenly on something unexpected and possibly sharp. His voice seemed only to confirm this.
We were to discover later that this was not James Murdoch in front of us but a Mafia boss. Unfortunately he sounded more like Kermit than Michael Corleone. This was going to be it .The unmasking of the man who would be king when Rupert finally moves on to his take-over of the celestial heights.
As befits the next ruler of the universe – and someone who intends to keep his personal contact with Plod of the Yard at some distance – Murdoch minor arrived for his latest confrontation with the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the House of Commons with a phalanx of minders and lawyers.
Each of them, including James, had been issued with a poppy, leaving some of the Americans on the team with the slightly nervous look of those who were not sure if they had been asked to pin a target to their lapels.
James was here to answer charges that he had only been adjacent to the truth on his last visit to Westminster, best remembered for his dad getting a pie in the face and his step-mum displaying a formidable left hook.
But he was family-less as he tried yet again to prove he was the Diggers true son and heir, worthy of continuing to run the global enterprise that is News Group/International/Murdoch/Millions. The trouble with the plan to get him was that it depended on the members of the Committee who apparently have a quaint system of never agreeing in advance who is going to ask what.
Their main man was always going to be Labour MP Tom Watson who took on the Empire even when it was still popular and has since carved out a career on the back of his bravery. So you knew it was going to be serious when Tom Watson let it be known he’d had a “late, late night ” playing Portal 2 and an “early, early morning” listening to the Clash on full blast.
The tone was set when Tom, having wished his new best friend James a good morning, asked him if he recently been arrested or bailed. When James demurred Tom set off on the long path to prove why either if not both of the above moves should be adopted asap by the authorities.
But the younger Murdoch had clearly not wasted his time since his last appearance and rolled out the answers that made it clear that it was not him but several other people, particularly long-time News of the World legal expert Tom Crone and the last Editor of the NoW Colin Myler whose memories should be further examined.
Indeed James, whose own memory seems to have taken several unplanned holidays in recent years, was happy to rest on his record of frankness and honesty over the whole issue. Not to mention the fact that so far there is no paper trail telling another story.
With Joe Strummer no doubt belting away in the back of his brain, Tom religiously asked all the questions everyone had told him he should and James religiously trotted out the answers he had learned.
Getting nowhere fast Tom then turned the question the minor Murdoch had not prepared an answer to:
“Are you familiar with the term mafia”, he asked.
The minders sat forward, the committee sat forward even James sat forward. Was Tom going to reveal some phone-hacking of his own?
Have you heard the term “omerta”, he added.
“I am not familiar with such things “, said James in a quote that could be drawn from Godfather 6-had there been one.
“You must be the first mafia boss in history who did not know he was running a criminal enterprise”, said Tom.
“Mr Watson, that is inappropriate”, said James.
With beds to be checked for horses heads Tom may not have got the chance to read the Sky News strapline running during the clash with a small”c”. It said Scotland Yard’s hacking squad had 300 million, repeat 300 million, News International emails to look at.
If that is even half true this one will run and run and run and run and run….
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