Blair 'pressed editor to sack New Labour critic'

Tony Blair asked a national news-paper editor to sack a journalist who was critical of New Labour, the Leveson inquiry heard today.

Richard Wallace, editor of the Daily Mirror, said the former prime minister asked him to fire Paul Routledge, a Left-wing columnist who was scathing about the Blairite project.

Mr Wallace told Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into the press that he met Mr Blair soon after he was given his current job in 2004.

He said: "One of the first things he asked me was whether I was going to sack one of my journalists who had been a consistent critic of the Government and Mr Blair in particular. Of course I did not react to it."

Wallace, a former showbusiness editor of the tabloid, also said it was possible it used illegal voicemail interception to uncover an affair between UIrika Jonsson and former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

After claims from ex-Mirror journalist James Hipwell that voicemail interception was "commonplace" on the showbiz desk in the Nineties, Mr Wallace was asked: "[Is it] possible it was going on but being hidden from you?"

He replied: "It might have been." Lord Leveson also heard Gordon Brown deny claims by former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie that Mr Brown had "roared" at Rupert Murdoch for 20 minutes after his papers switched allegiance to the Conservatives.

A letter from Mr Brown's lawyers was read out, saying: "The account is not an accurate reflection of events."

Mr Wallace claimed politicians were afraid of Mr Murdoch and added: "The only reason he has so much power is because we give it to him."
The inquiry continues.