George Osborne was relaxed as he gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry. He was succinct and focused, in contrast to Gordon Brown in the morning session. He was affable, joking about his ‘difficulties in Corfu’ — a reference to the infamous Deripaska affair.
His confidence was such that he even said the inquiry was walking up a ‘blind alley’ in adjudicating on the fusion of news and comment in newspapers. This is not a new problem, he said, eighteenth century freesheets presented opinion as fact according to their view of the world.
Mr Osborne defended the conduct of Rupert Harrison, his special advisor, who was contacted by Fred Michel, a News International’s liaison officer, but did not act upon any of Mr Michel’s wishes, which included a request that Osborne write to Vince Cable, who was then overseeing the quasi-judicial process.
Lord Justice Leveson professed incredulity at the close relations between special advisors and industry representatives during a ‘judicial matter’.
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