Rebekah Wade
Encyclopedia
Rebekah Mary Brooks (née Wade, born 27 May 1968) is a British journalist and former newspaper editor
. She was chief executive of News International
(from 2009 to 2011), having previously served as the youngest editor of a British national newspaper as editor of the News of the World
(from 2000 to 2003) and the first female editor of The Sun
(from 2003 to 2009). She married actor Ross Kemp
in 2002; in 2009, they were divorced, and she married former racehorse trainer and author Charlie Brooks.
She is a prominent figure in the News International phone hacking scandal, having been the editor of the News of the World when illegal phone hacking
was allegedly carried out by the newspaper. On 15 July 2011, Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International, following widespread criticism of her role in the controversy. On 17 July 2011, she was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption.
, Lancashire (now Cheshire). She grew up in Daresbury
, and decided she wanted to be a journalist from the age of fourteen. She attended Appleton Hall County Grammar School
in Warrington.
A childhood friend, Louise Weir, described her as "more emotionally intelligent than academic", charming and always able to get what she wanted out of people.
In Brooks' entry in Who's Who
she stated that she studied at the Sorbonne
in Paris, but did not claim to have a degree, and did not later answer questions about this; in a 2003 Spectator
article, Stephen Glover suggested that, since she was working at the age of 20 for the News of the World
, "we can safely assume that she did not study at the Sorbonne in any meaningful way". In 2010, Brooks was awarded an honorary Fellowship from the University of the Arts, London, for her contribution to journalism. She attended the London College of Printing, now part of the university, as a student.
The economics commentator Henry Porter claims little is known of Brooks personally. Tim Minogue, who was one of her first co-editors before becoming a journalist at Private Eye magazine, recalled a “likeable, skinny, hollow-eyed girl who was very ambitious”.
's Messenger Group. Graham Ball, the then features editor at The Post newspaper, recalled that she was a notably astute and intelligent staff member. When The Post was disbanded, Brooks then moved to the News of the World.
, a paramour of Princess Diana
, by reserving a hotel suite and hiring a team to "kit it out with secret tape devices in various flowerpots and cupboards", Piers Morgan
, her former boss and now a CNN
talk show host (and ABC talent-show judge), wrote in his memoir The Insider
, The New York Times relayed in July 2011. In 1998, she transferred to the News of the World daily counterpart, The Sun, where she was appointed its deputy editor. In this period, she reportedly attempted to persuade David Yelland to end the Page Three Girl
s feature. She then returned to the News of the World in 2000 as editor; at the time, she was the youngest editor of a national British newspaper.
While at the News of the World, she oversaw its controversial campaign of "naming and shaming" individuals suspected to be convicted child sex offenders
-- a campaign launched in the wake of the murder of Sarah Payne. The paper's decision led to angry mobs terrorising those they suspected of being child sex offenders, which included several cases of mistaken identity and one instance where a paediatrician had her house vandalised, apparently by people who misunderstood her occupational title to be the same as paedophile. The campaign was labelled "grossly irresponsible" journalism by the then Chief Constable
of Gloucestershire
, Tony Butler, but, in a rare interview, Brooks defended the paper's actions on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost
, stating that it was "only right that the public have controlled access" to information on sex offenders. The paper's already strong sales held up well under her leadership, while those of rival Sunday newspapers The People
and the Sunday Mirror
fell more sharply.
Lord Prescott was impressed with the way Rebekah handled the story of his wife, Pauline, giving up one of her children for adoption as "very reasonable and professional" in style.
Paul McMullan described Brooks as "the criminal-in-chief".
was Rebekah Parmar-Teasdale
– the caption to the picture was "Rebekah from Wapping
". Soon after becoming editor, Brooks ran the headline "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up" concerning the mental health problems of former heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno
. The next day The Sun ran a 600-word reply from the head of the mental health charity Sane
, and since then has adopted a style guide on covering mental health stories prepared by the same charity. Brooks and her husband spent a day with the head of Sane and made donations to the charity.
During a March 2003 appearance before the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport as part of an inquiry into privacy issues, Brooks stated that her newspaper had paid police officers for information. Alison Clark, the director of corporate affairs at News International
, later stated: "It is not company practice to pay police for information".
Brooks has been chair of the organisation Women in Journalism, and has served as a judge for the "Guardian Student Media Awards" in November 2003 and the tenth annual Police Bravery Awards in July 2005, the latter sponsored by The Sun.
. Dominic Mohan
was named her successor as editor of The Sun.
Rebekah Brooks has become noted in media circles for having conquered the world of tabloid journalism with meteoric success and in becoming Rupert Murdoch's proxy.
, and Glenn Mulcaire, a hired investigator, were convicted and jailed for intercepting the phone messages of members of the royal family in 2006.
Brooks said on 10 July 2009, "The Guardian coverage [of the phone hacking affair], we believe, has substantially and likely deliberately misled the British public".
of the House of Commons, Chris Bryant
MP asked her and Andy Coulson
whether either of their newspapers had ever been involved in various improper acts. Brooks replied, "We have paid police for information in the past". Andy Coulson stepped in to say that payments were only made lawfully. The Sun, of which Brooks was editor, subsequently ridiculed Chris Bryant in a number of articles, starting with one about a photograph of him in his underpants from a gay dating web site. Brooks later claimed that in her response to Bryant's question she had merely been speaking about the widespread belief that payments had been made to police, and denied having any knowledge of specific payments.
According to MPs, Rebekah Brooks refused three times to attend the committee again to be questioned further, resulting in four committee members "considering asking the serjeant at arms to issue a warrant forcing Brooks to attend"; however they subsequently dropped this proposal because they believed their private lives would be investigated if they did so. John Whittingdale
, chair of the committee, stated there was a conversation "about the possible repercussions of issuing a warrant for Brooks but said that did not have any bearing on his decision and he did not believe News International would target committee members."
and a solicitor alleged that in 2002, when Brooks was editor, the paper had also hacked the voicemail of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler (later found to be murdered), to access messages left by her parents. It was also alleged that messages had been deleted when the mailbox was getting full, to allow new messages to be left and illicitly listened to; this caused the missing girl's family to think that she was still alive and monitoring her messages. The New York Times London reporter Sarah Lyall wrote that, if the allegations were true, "it would mean either that Ms. Brooks had no idea how the paper she edited was obtaining information about the Dowler family for its articles, or that she knew about the hacking and allowed it". In an email to her staff Brooks said it was "inconceivable" that she had known what was happening over Milly Dowler's voicemail.
said Brooks should "consider her position" after the Milly Dowler allegations. Prime Minister David Cameron
said that if Brooks had offered her resignation to him, he would have accepted it. Milly Dowler's parents also called for Brooks' resignation.
When Brooks told News of the World staff that the newspaper was being closed down, some reportedly said that all of their jobs had been sacrificed in order to save hers. Andreas Whittam Smith
suggested that Brooks' decision not to resign was symptomatic of "the self-serving, conceited thesis that 'only I, who was at the helm during the disaster, can steer us to safety'".
On 14 July, News Corporation
's second largest shareholder, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal
Alsaud, called for her resignation in a BBC interview.
Having previously had an offer of resignation rejected, Brooks resigned in disgrace from News International on 15 July 2011. She said: "As chief executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place. I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate. This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past. Therefore I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted."
The Daily Telegraph
reported that despite resigning from her position, Brooks remained on the company payroll and continued to receive her salary from News International, having been told by Rupert Murdoch to "to travel the world on him for a year".
, the Metropolitan Police
's phone hacking probe, and Operation Elveden
, the probe examining illicit payments to police officers. Brooks' public relations agent Dave Wilson told CNN that she did not know she was going to be arrested when she arrived for a pre-arranged interview with London's Metropolitan Police Service
.
Following twelve hours in custody, Brooks was released on bail until October 2011.
and his wife. For example, scrutiny has focused on a December 2010 dinner party that was attend by both David Cameron and James Murdoch.
Brooks was also a friend of Tony
and Cherie Blair
and Gordon
and Sarah Brown. Her 2009 wedding to Charlie Brooks was attended both by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and current Prime Minister David Cameron.
(best known as Grant Mitchell
in EastEnders
) in 1996, and married him in June 2002 in Las Vegas
.
On 3 November 2005, it was reported that Brooks had been arrested following an alleged assault on her husband. She was later released without charge and the police took no further action. The Sun had been running a campaign against domestic violence
at the time. From this point, Brooks was referred to in Private Eye as "the slapper" (a pejorative British word for a woman of loose morals, and a pun
on the act of slapping). The couple had spent the previous evening in the company of the former Cabinet Minister David Blunkett
, who had resigned for the second time on that day.
Private Eye and The Independent
reported that the couple had separated; this was not widely reported in the remainder of the British press. The 7 March 2008 issue of Private Eye refers to her "paramour", former racehorse trainer and author Charlie Brooks. The Guardian reported on 5 June 2009, that she would marry Brooks. The Independent reported that Brooks and her fiancé had married in a lakeside ceremony in June 2009. The couple live in Chipping Norton
, Oxfordshire, and London. It was reported that a laptop and other items allegedly belonging to Charlie Brooks were found in the rubbish bins at the couple's London flat in Chelsea Harbour and, despite being claimed by Mr Brooks, were removed by police for examination.
In July 2011, MP Chris Bryant
claimed that Brooks had previously "sneered" at Bryant's homosexuality, and that Kemp had responded "Shut up, you homophobic cow".
Brooks is a friend of Sheryl Gascoigne
, the ex-wife of footballer Paul Gascoigne
. She also attended the Prince of Wales'
50th birthday party.
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
. She was chief executive of News International
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
(from 2009 to 2011), having previously served as the youngest editor of a British national newspaper as editor of the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
(from 2000 to 2003) and the first female editor of The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
(from 2003 to 2009). She married actor Ross Kemp
Ross Kemp
Ross James Kemp is a BAFTA award-winning British actor, author and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
in 2002; in 2009, they were divorced, and she married former racehorse trainer and author Charlie Brooks.
She is a prominent figure in the News International phone hacking scandal, having been the editor of the News of the World when illegal phone hacking
Phone hacking
Phone hacking is a term used to describe the practice of intercepting telephone calls or voicemail messages, often by accessing the voicemail messages of a mobile phone without the consent of the phone's owner...
was allegedly carried out by the newspaper. On 15 July 2011, Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International, following widespread criticism of her role in the controversy. On 17 July 2011, she was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption.
Early life
Brooks was born Rebekah Mary Wade in WarringtonWarrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
, Lancashire (now Cheshire). She grew up in Daresbury
Daresbury
Daresbury is a small rural village, civil parish and ward in the unitary authority of Halton and part of the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is covered by the Weaver Vale constituency...
, and decided she wanted to be a journalist from the age of fourteen. She attended Appleton Hall County Grammar School
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
in Warrington.
A childhood friend, Louise Weir, described her as "more emotionally intelligent than academic", charming and always able to get what she wanted out of people.
In Brooks' entry in Who's Who
Who's Who (UK)
Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
she stated that she studied at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris, but did not claim to have a degree, and did not later answer questions about this; in a 2003 Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
article, Stephen Glover suggested that, since she was working at the age of 20 for the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
, "we can safely assume that she did not study at the Sorbonne in any meaningful way". In 2010, Brooks was awarded an honorary Fellowship from the University of the Arts, London, for her contribution to journalism. She attended the London College of Printing, now part of the university, as a student.
The economics commentator Henry Porter claims little is known of Brooks personally. Tim Minogue, who was one of her first co-editors before becoming a journalist at Private Eye magazine, recalled a “likeable, skinny, hollow-eyed girl who was very ambitious”.
Career
After school she worked for the French magazine L'architecture d'aujourd'hui in Paris, before returning to Britain to work for Eddy ShahEddy Shah
Selim Jehan Shah , commonly known as Eddy Shah or Eddie Shah, is a Manchester-based businessman, the founder of the then technologically-advanced UK newspaper Today in 1986, and of the extremely short-lived tabloid The Post, and current owner of the Messenger Group.Shah was born in Cambridge of an...
's Messenger Group. Graham Ball, the then features editor at The Post newspaper, recalled that she was a notably astute and intelligent staff member. When The Post was disbanded, Brooks then moved to the News of the World.
News of the World
She joined the Sunday newspaper News of the World in 1989 as a secretary, before working as a feature writer for its 'Sunday' magazine where she worked on "The A to Z of Soaps" with TV soap expert Chris Stacey, and eventually becoming the paper's deputy editor. "In 1994, she prepared for the News of the Worlds interview with James HewittJames Hewitt
James Hewitt is a former British household cavalry officer in the British Army. He had an affair with Diana, Princess of Wales for five years, receiving extensive media coverage after revealing details of the affair.-Early life:...
, a paramour of Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
, by reserving a hotel suite and hiring a team to "kit it out with secret tape devices in various flowerpots and cupboards", Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....
, her former boss and now a CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
talk show host (and ABC talent-show judge), wrote in his memoir The Insider
The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade
The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade is a book written in diary form by Piers Morgan documenting his time as editor of the News of the World and Daily Mirror...
, The New York Times relayed in July 2011. In 1998, she transferred to the News of the World daily counterpart, The Sun, where she was appointed its deputy editor. In this period, she reportedly attempted to persuade David Yelland to end the Page Three Girl
Page Three girl
Page Three is a tabloid newspaper feature consisting of a topless photograph of a female glamour model, usually printed on the paper's third page...
s feature. She then returned to the News of the World in 2000 as editor; at the time, she was the youngest editor of a national British newspaper.
While at the News of the World, she oversaw its controversial campaign of "naming and shaming" individuals suspected to be convicted child sex offenders
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
-- a campaign launched in the wake of the murder of Sarah Payne. The paper's decision led to angry mobs terrorising those they suspected of being child sex offenders, which included several cases of mistaken identity and one instance where a paediatrician had her house vandalised, apparently by people who misunderstood her occupational title to be the same as paedophile. The campaign was labelled "grossly irresponsible" journalism by the then Chief Constable
Chief Constable
Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
of Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire Constabulary
Gloucestershire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire in England...
, Tony Butler, but, in a rare interview, Brooks defended the paper's actions on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost
Breakfast with Frost
Breakfast with Frost was a talk show hosted by Sir David Frost on the BBC on Sunday mornings. The news presenter was Moira Stuart. The show ran for more than 12 years and exactly 500 editions between 3 January 1993 and 29 May 2005...
, stating that it was "only right that the public have controlled access" to information on sex offenders. The paper's already strong sales held up well under her leadership, while those of rival Sunday newspapers The People
The People
The People, previously known as the Sunday People, is a British tabloid Sunday-only newspaper. The paper was founded on 16 October 1881.It is published by the Trinity Mirror Group.In July 2011 it had an average daily circulation of 806,544....
and the Sunday Mirror
Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...
fell more sharply.
Lord Prescott was impressed with the way Rebekah handled the story of his wife, Pauline, giving up one of her children for adoption as "very reasonable and professional" in style.
Paul McMullan described Brooks as "the criminal-in-chief".
The Sun
In January 2003, she returned to The Sun, replacing her former boss David Yelland, to become its first female editor. On Brooks' first day as editor the Page Three girlPage Three girl
Page Three is a tabloid newspaper feature consisting of a topless photograph of a female glamour model, usually printed on the paper's third page...
was Rebekah Parmar-Teasdale
Rebekah Teasdale
Rebekah Teasdale is an English glamour model, former Page 3 girl, and former journalist with the British men's magazine Maxim.- Biography :...
– the caption to the picture was "Rebekah from Wapping
Wapping
Wapping is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which forms part of the Docklands to the east of the City of London. It is situated between the north bank of the River Thames and the ancient thoroughfare simply called The Highway...
". Soon after becoming editor, Brooks ran the headline "Bonkers Bruno Locked Up" concerning the mental health problems of former heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno
Frank Bruno
Franklin Roy Bruno MBE is an English former boxer whose career highlight was winning the WBC Heavyweight championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests...
. The next day The Sun ran a 600-word reply from the head of the mental health charity Sane
SANE (charity)
SANE is a mental illness charity in the UK. It provides telephone and email support services and has established a research centre. The opinion of SANE's founder and chief executive, Marjorie Wallace, is often quoted in media reports on mental health issues....
, and since then has adopted a style guide on covering mental health stories prepared by the same charity. Brooks and her husband spent a day with the head of Sane and made donations to the charity.
During a March 2003 appearance before the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport as part of an inquiry into privacy issues, Brooks stated that her newspaper had paid police officers for information. Alison Clark, the director of corporate affairs at News International
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
, later stated: "It is not company practice to pay police for information".
Brooks has been chair of the organisation Women in Journalism, and has served as a judge for the "Guardian Student Media Awards" in November 2003 and the tenth annual Police Bravery Awards in July 2005, the latter sponsored by The Sun.
News International
In June 2009, it was announced that she would leave The Sun in September 2009, to become chief executive of the newspaper's parent company, News InternationalNews International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
. Dominic Mohan
Dominic Mohan
Dominic Mohan is a British journalist and newspaper editor.He is the Editor of The Sun newspaper in London. He joined The Sun in 1996 working on the "Bizarre" column...
was named her successor as editor of The Sun.
Rebekah Brooks has become noted in media circles for having conquered the world of tabloid journalism with meteoric success and in becoming Rupert Murdoch's proxy.
Phone hacking scandal
A police enquiry revealed that the News of the World had a routine practice of intercepting mobile phone messages of celebrities, politicians and other public figures. The newspaper's reporter, Clive GoodmanClive Goodman
Clive Goodman is a former royal editor and reporter for the News of the World. He was arrested in August 2006 and jailed in January 2007 for intercepting mobile phone messages involving members of the Royal Household.Goodman initially worked as a journalist on Nigel Dempster's gossip column in the...
, and Glenn Mulcaire, a hired investigator, were convicted and jailed for intercepting the phone messages of members of the royal family in 2006.
Brooks said on 10 July 2009, "The Guardian coverage [of the phone hacking affair], we believe, has substantially and likely deliberately misled the British public".
Questioning by MPs
In 2003, under questioning by the Culture, Media and Sport Select CommitteeCulture, Media and Sport Select Committee
The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is one of the Select Committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport which replaced the Department for National Heritage....
of the House of Commons, Chris Bryant
Chris Bryant
Christopher John Bryant is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Rhondda since 2001...
MP asked her and Andy Coulson
Andy Coulson
Andrew Edward Coulson is an English journalist and political strategist.Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking.He subsequently joined David Cameron's...
whether either of their newspapers had ever been involved in various improper acts. Brooks replied, "We have paid police for information in the past". Andy Coulson stepped in to say that payments were only made lawfully. The Sun, of which Brooks was editor, subsequently ridiculed Chris Bryant in a number of articles, starting with one about a photograph of him in his underpants from a gay dating web site. Brooks later claimed that in her response to Bryant's question she had merely been speaking about the widespread belief that payments had been made to police, and denied having any knowledge of specific payments.
According to MPs, Rebekah Brooks refused three times to attend the committee again to be questioned further, resulting in four committee members "considering asking the serjeant at arms to issue a warrant forcing Brooks to attend"; however they subsequently dropped this proposal because they believed their private lives would be investigated if they did so. John Whittingdale
John Whittingdale
John Flasby Lawrance Whittingdale OBE, , is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1992.-Education:...
, chair of the committee, stated there was a conversation "about the possible repercussions of issuing a warrant for Brooks but said that did not have any bearing on his decision and he did not believe News International would target committee members."
Milly Dowler
In 2011, The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and a solicitor alleged that in 2002, when Brooks was editor, the paper had also hacked the voicemail of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler (later found to be murdered), to access messages left by her parents. It was also alleged that messages had been deleted when the mailbox was getting full, to allow new messages to be left and illicitly listened to; this caused the missing girl's family to think that she was still alive and monitoring her messages. The New York Times London reporter Sarah Lyall wrote that, if the allegations were true, "it would mean either that Ms. Brooks had no idea how the paper she edited was obtaining information about the Dowler family for its articles, or that she knew about the hacking and allowed it". In an email to her staff Brooks said it was "inconceivable" that she had known what was happening over Milly Dowler's voicemail.
Resignation
In July 2011, Labour Party leader Ed MilibandEd Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...
said Brooks should "consider her position" after the Milly Dowler allegations. Prime Minister David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
said that if Brooks had offered her resignation to him, he would have accepted it. Milly Dowler's parents also called for Brooks' resignation.
When Brooks told News of the World staff that the newspaper was being closed down, some reportedly said that all of their jobs had been sacrificed in order to save hers. Andreas Whittam Smith
Andreas Whittam Smith
Andreas Whittam Smith CBE is an English financial journalist, who was one of the founders of The Independent newspaper which began publication in October 1986 with Whittam Smith as editor...
suggested that Brooks' decision not to resign was symptomatic of "the self-serving, conceited thesis that 'only I, who was at the helm during the disaster, can steer us to safety'".
On 14 July, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
's second largest shareholder, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal
Al-Waleed bin Talal
Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is a Saudi Arabian billionaire and member of the Saudi royal family. He is the nephew of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. An entrepreneur and international investor he has amassed a fortune through investments in real estate and the stock market.He is founder and CEO of...
Alsaud, called for her resignation in a BBC interview.
Having previously had an offer of resignation rejected, Brooks resigned in disgrace from News International on 15 July 2011. She said: "As chief executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place. I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate. This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past. Therefore I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted."
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
reported that despite resigning from her position, Brooks remained on the company payroll and continued to receive her salary from News International, having been told by Rupert Murdoch to "to travel the world on him for a year".
Arrest
On 17 July 2011, Brooks was arrested by police on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption allegations. She was arrested by detectives working on Operation WeetingOperation Weeting
Operation Weeting is a British police investigation that commenced on 26 January 2011, under the Specialist Crime Directorate of the Metropolitan Police Service into allegations of phone hacking in the News of the World phone hacking affair...
, the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
's phone hacking probe, and Operation Elveden
Operation Elveden
Operation Elveden is a British police investigation. It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investigation.-Background:...
, the probe examining illicit payments to police officers. Brooks' public relations agent Dave Wilson told CNN that she did not know she was going to be arrested when she arrived for a pre-arranged interview with London's Metropolitan Police Service
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
.
Following twelve hours in custody, Brooks was released on bail until October 2011.
Political connections
There has been criticism of her influence on leading politicians, and possible connections between this and the phone hacking affair. Most notably, Brooks and her husband have close social ties to Prime Minister David CameronDavid Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
and his wife. For example, scrutiny has focused on a December 2010 dinner party that was attend by both David Cameron and James Murdoch.
Brooks was also a friend of Tony
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
and Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair
Cherie Blair , known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a British barrister working in the legal system of England and Wales. She is married to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair; the couple have three sons and one daughter...
and Gordon
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
and Sarah Brown. Her 2009 wedding to Charlie Brooks was attended both by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and current Prime Minister David Cameron.
Personal life
Brooks became engaged to actor Ross KempRoss Kemp
Ross James Kemp is a BAFTA award-winning British actor, author and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
(best known as Grant Mitchell
Grant Mitchell (EastEnders)
Grant Anthony Mitchell is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, played by Ross Kemp. Grant first appeared in 1990, introduced by producer Michael Ferguson to revamp the show. Kemp remained until 1999 when he opted to leave...
in EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
) in 1996, and married him in June 2002 in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
On 3 November 2005, it was reported that Brooks had been arrested following an alleged assault on her husband. She was later released without charge and the police took no further action. The Sun had been running a campaign against domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
at the time. From this point, Brooks was referred to in Private Eye as "the slapper" (a pejorative British word for a woman of loose morals, and a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
on the act of slapping). The couple had spent the previous evening in the company of the former Cabinet Minister David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
, who had resigned for the second time on that day.
Private Eye and The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
reported that the couple had separated; this was not widely reported in the remainder of the British press. The 7 March 2008 issue of Private Eye refers to her "paramour", former racehorse trainer and author Charlie Brooks. The Guardian reported on 5 June 2009, that she would marry Brooks. The Independent reported that Brooks and her fiancé had married in a lakeside ceremony in June 2009. The couple live in Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about southwest of Banbury.-History until the 17th century:...
, Oxfordshire, and London. It was reported that a laptop and other items allegedly belonging to Charlie Brooks were found in the rubbish bins at the couple's London flat in Chelsea Harbour and, despite being claimed by Mr Brooks, were removed by police for examination.
In July 2011, MP Chris Bryant
Chris Bryant
Christopher John Bryant is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Rhondda since 2001...
claimed that Brooks had previously "sneered" at Bryant's homosexuality, and that Kemp had responded "Shut up, you homophobic cow".
Brooks is a friend of Sheryl Gascoigne
Sheryl Gascoigne
Sheryl Gasgoigne is a British television personality and author. She is the former wife of footballer Paul Gascoigne and the mother of glamour model Bianca Gascoigne...
, the ex-wife of footballer Paul Gascoigne
Paul Gascoigne
Paul John Gascoigne , commonly referred to as Gazza, is a retired English professional footballer.Playing in the position of midfield, Gascoigne's career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton and Gansu Tianma, where he scored at least a goal...
. She also attended the Prince of Wales'
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
50th birthday party.