This comes after new evidence emerged casting doubt on the reliability of his testimony to the Committee two years ago, says Hacked Off.
Referring to the secret recordings of an internal meeting at News International, leaked to the Exaro news website and Channel Four News, Dr Harris’s letter states:
“There is a strong prima facie case that Mr Murdoch may have committed contempt of Parliament by misleading your committee over his true response to the police investigations into phone hacking and bribery of public officials.
“As far as the victims of phone hacking are concerned, the appropriate course of action is for the Committee to recall him at the earliest available opportunity to explain the discrepancies between the expressions of remorse he made to you and the defiant and unrepentant tone of his private remarks earlier this year.
“Your Committee has been wise in swiftly recalling any witnesses who may have appeared to mislead it in the past and trust that this important convention will be maintained on this occasion.”
Commenting on the revelations, Jane Winter, a victim of hacking said: “This tape shows Rupert Murdoch in his true colours: unrepentant, above the law, and vengeful. It is clear that he has instructed his lawyers to obstruct the police investigation and that, in his arrogant contempt for the law of the land and for his victims, he is simply waiting for it all to blow over so that he can rebuild his empire.
“He has not been straight with Parliament, with the Leveson Inquiry, or with anyone, and has yet to be properly called to account.”
Full text of the letter to John Whittingdale MP:
Dear John,
I am writing on behalf of victims of press abuse by News International publications to urge you to recall Rupert Murdoch to give evidence to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
When he came before your committee on 19th July 2011, the chairman of News Corp declared it was “the most humble day of my life” and insisted that he was not responsible for what he called "sickening and horrible invasions of privacy” committed by his company. Mr Murdoch claimed that he had been betrayed by disgraceful unidentified colleagues, telling you that those culpable were "the people I hired and trusted, and perhaps then people who they hired and trusted".
Yet it now emerges, as a result of a leaked tape of a News International staff meeting of which you will be aware, Mr Murdoch has since raged against the police and claimed that the inquiry has been blown out of proportion.
He told NI staff in March: "I mean, it's a disgrace. Here we are, two years later, and the cops are totally incompetent.... Why are the police behaving in this way? It's the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing.”
Mr Murdoch is also heard to make thinly veiled threats against those who are investigating him. "It would be nice to hit back when we can", one journalist suggests, and Mr Murdoch replies, "We will... We will".
There is a strong prima facie case that Mr Murdoch may have committed contempt of Parliament by misleading your committee over his true response to the police investigations into phone hacking and bribery of public officials.
As far as the victims of phone hacking are concerned, the appropriate course of action is for the Committee to recall him at the earliest available opportunity to explain the discrepancies between the expressions of remorse he made to you and the defiant and unrepentant tone of his private remarks earlier this year.
Your Committee has been wise in swiftly recalling any witnesses who may have appeared to mislead it in the past and trust that this important convention will be maintained on this occasion.
I am copying this letter to all members of the DCMS Select Committee.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Evan Harris
Associate Director, Hacked Off
