Reuters/London
The government joined efforts to block Rupert Murdoch’s bid for broadcaster BSkyB yesterday, dashing his hopes of a rapid expansion in television as the scandal over phone-hacking by one of his newspapers widened.By completing a phalanx of resistance to the global media magnate that includes all Britain’s main parties, the move by Prime Minister David Cameron showed how far a man long feared and courted by left and right as a kingmaker may be hampered by outrage over the past week’s allegations about his journalism.The opposition Labour party, which has sought to capitalise on Conservative leader Cameron’s personal ties to key figures in the affair, scheduled a non-binding vote in parliament for today.It will call on Murdoch to withdraw News Corporation’s $14bn bid for the 61% it does not already own in BSkyB, Britain’s main pay-TV group.Barely an hour later, a spokesman for the government said it too would back the motion, setting a huge political, if not strictly legislative, hurdle for the takeover. Ministers had looked increasingly embarrassed by having already given their provisional blessing to Murdoch’s offer, a fact that left the fate of the deal largely in the hands of independent officials. Labour leader Ed Miliband said after calling the vote: “The best way of achieving our objective, which is to make sure that this bid cannot go ahead while the criminal investigation is going on, is for Murdoch to withdraw the bid.”Developments since the scandal blew up had already meant the bid being referred to the competition watchdog, entailing a delay of possibly a year.But while that may have seemed a convenient respite for News Corporation and the government to let the scandal die down, parliamentary unanimity against the takeover, even if not binding, may prove durable and hard to overcome. BSkyB shares closed 3.3% lower. News Corporation shares lost gains they had made on news of a $5bn share buyback that has taken advantage of a 14% slide in the stock price in New York since Thursday, when Murdoch announced the closure of top-selling tabloid the News of the World.One London media analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the companies’ future was very hard to predict, given how far politicians had been forced to take positions in the light of popular anger.“The worm is turning,” the analyst said of the stance Cameron’s party was taking. “It’s serious in that it shows the political will at the moment. But the truth is things are changing by the hour in all of this so in a year’s time, who knows? News Corporation may not own any more newspapers in a year’s time. So it’s a tough one to call. The politicians are blowing in the wind.”Earlier yesterday, a senior policeman who investigated phone hacking by Murdoch’s journalists said his own voicemails were probably spied on, but he denied that fear of embarrassing exposure intimidated him into dropping the inquiry. Tapping popular anger at the global media magnate over allegations a tabloid newspaper spied on thousands of people, from the rich and powerful to vulnerable victims of crime, parliament summoned Murdoch and two top lieutenants to answer questions next Tuesday. It was not clear if they would attend.