Rupert Murdoch 'Not Fit' to Run News Corp, Claims News of the World Phone Hacking Committee Report

Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person" to run News Corporation because of his treatment of the phone hacking scandal, an MPs' report has claimed.

The culture, media and sport committee laid the blame on the media tycoon for a cover-up that "permeated from the top throughout the organisation" with regard to hacking at the News of The World.

The 121-page report accuses James Murdoch, former News International chairman, of "wilful ignorance" of the situation, while claiming the company's executives demonstrated contempt for the committee's inquiry.

The report focuses on whether the committee was misled by News International and News Corp witnesses during the course of its nine-month inquiry. It reacted to revelations made in the press and the Leveson inquiry into press ethics that followed its previous hacking report.

It concludes that it was misled and expresses its "astonishment" that it was "prevented from exposing the true extent of phone hacking" with its previous report.

"On the basis of the facts and evidence before the Committee, we conclude that, if at all relevant times Rupert Murdoch did not take steps to become fully informed about phone-hacking, he turned a blind eye and exhibited wilful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications," the report reads.

"The culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organisation and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corporation and News International.

"We conclude that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company."

The report also criticised the Metropolitan Police, which it claimed had no "interest or willingness to uncover the full extent of the phone-hacking", while it claimed Surrey Police acted insufficiently on evidence that the NotW had hacked the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler.

Despite the strength of the allegations made by the report, MPS were not able to find a particular case where they could prove that either Murdoch had lied to the committee.

MPs struggled to agree on the report itself, specifically the paragraph aimed squarely at Murdoch's ability to run new corporation, and the report was not voted through unanimously.

At a press conference to accompany the release of the report Tory MP Louise Mensch warned that she believed that the committee's findings had been diluted by the disagreements, which led to MPs voting along "partisan party political lines".

Labour MP Tom Watson said Rupert Murdoch "more than any other individual" was to blame.

"Morally the deeds are his," Watson told reporters. "He paid the piper and he called the tune."

If the Commons passes a motion concluding that any of the committee witnesses were in contempt of parliament, it could lead to them being made to apologise to the bar of the House.

News Corp released a statement in immediate response to the report claiming it is "carefully reviewing the select committee's report and will respond shortly".

It "fully acknowledges significant wrongdoing at News of the World and apologises to everyone whose privacy has invaded".