What politicians lost to Murdoch

[Commentary] It is now obvious, despite Rupert Murdoch’s modesty, that News Corp has exercised an unholy grip over British politicians, who helped it to avoid antitrust barriers as it bought The Times and The Sunday Times in 1981, and British Sky Broadcasting in 1990.

Those politicians were so in awe of Murdoch that they leapt to accommodate him without him needing to ask out loud. It is also clear that cabinet ministers can be trusted to adjudicate impartially on media mergers about as much as they could be trusted before 1997 to set interest rates for the good of the economy, as opposed to their parties. The long-term question is how to prevent another baron from pulling off the trick again.