The new world

"The world has changed," Ed Miliband told David Cameron today. And he was right. Never before in Westminster has Rupert Murdoch's name been tarnished so freely by politicians. Since Margaret Thatcher, every prime minister apart from John Major has courted the media mogul, sometimes even bending policy towards Murdoch’s commercial and ideological agenda. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both went out of their way to win the support of the Sun, believing that the red-top had the power to sway election results, as their famous 1992 headline claimed. Murdoch's "influence" was always based on this myth, and politicians from all sides fell for it. Brown only turned against Murdoch after News International abandoned him for the Tories in 2009. In turn, Cameron became close friends with Rebekah Brooks and enjoyed broad support across Murdoch's stable.

And today that all changed. At prime minister's questions [PMQs], Cameron was even forced to disown Brooks, saying "she was right to resign and her resignation should have been accepted." Miliband told a packed House that her remaining in the job was an "insult" to the family of Milly Dowler, whose mobile phone was hacked by the News of the World. "What happened is disgraceful," said Cameron, "and they [News International] should stop thinking about mergers" and instead clean out their "stable."

When it comes to Andy Coulson, Miliband claimed Cameron "just doesn't get it." Cameron still refuses to condemn his former head of communications, although he admitted today that if it turns out Coulson "lied" it would be "a matter of great regret." But to be fair to Cameron, he could not have done much more to show he "gets" the fact that, as he repeatedly said, "the relationship between politicians and the media" had to change. He emphasised that this relationship would fall within the remit of the judicial inquiry Cameron announced after PMQs.

Tonight, the whole House—apart from the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, and perhaps a handful of Tory MPs—will disown Murdoch by voting against his cherished BSkyB bid. It will not be binding, but it will certainly underline the new mood here. There is, at last, just a hint of rage against the machine in the air.

During PMQs Cameron repeatedly referred to the need to deal with "corruption" in the police, another institution that has for decades remained unscrutinised and unaccountable, as the Jean Charles de Menezes and Ian Tomlinson incidents showed. Curiously enough, the de Menezes case, in which misleading statements were given to the media, was handled in part by Andy Hayman, one of the senior officers who yesterday gave evidence over his murky relationship with News International. Cameron even quipped that the police performances yesterday were "mixed," though he singled out Sue Akers, now heading the investigation into the phone hacking affair, for praise. He added that the Met chief has now assured him that the current team investigating is entirely new.

It is perhaps too optimistic to say that two conservative and at least partly corrupt organizations—the Murdoch empire and the police—will never be the same again. But for those of us who have long criticised both, today marks a rare win for British democracy.

UPDATE: News Corp has announced that it has dropped its BSkyB bid.

Additional reporting by Lawrence Speelman.