When asked what coaching they had received before the hearing, James Murdoch said that they had been advised - correctly - to be “truthful and transparent”. Hopefully they were also told to come across as likeable and to remember they need to appeal to the audience beyond the committee room (we can assume that doesn’t include setting up a physical attack on you to generate sympathy).
James clearly listened to the briefing but was his father asleep (as indeed he sometimes appeared to be during the hearing)? Select Committee hearings are not a forum for being argumentative or flamboyant or offering soundbites and spin (these are the preserve of the questioning politicians). But that was Rupert. You should be robust but respectful, honest and helpful. That was James.
James recovered well from being denied the opportunity to read out a pre-prepared statement. Mainly by using the first question to make it anyway. He set his tone right at the start – a fulsome apology, an outline of his actions to resolve matters and an attempt to offer some perspective. He’d clearly listened to his PR advice and so avoided ‘doing a Tony Hayward’. He was assured, measured and focused over the three hours. He made clear what he knew about and of what he did not – frequently - have ‘direct knowledge’. But most of all he was respectful.
Rupert on the other hand made me cringe with his artlessly delivered, pre-prepared, ‘Americanised’ soundbite that “this is the most humble day of my life”.
Expertly dissected by Tom Watson MP, he was reduced to long pauses (which made what he then said sound insincere), monosyllabic answers and appealing for his son to help him. But this is what select committees can do with their passive ‘grilling’. Just ask the ex-banking executives. Thereafter, he looked confused and irrelevant to the proceedings. Until the foam pie assault which seemed to wake him up.
"I just did what I was told," said Rupert when asked why he came in through the back door at Number 10. That may just be the millstone quote around his neck.
Egg on his face? Or humble pie?
