Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has lodged a formal complaint with British police, accusing Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) of obstructing justice during the phone-hacking scandal. Brown claims senior detectives involved in the original investigation have told him they were misled about the alleged deletion of millions of emails by NGN.
Brown revealed that officers now believe there was “significant evidence” of deliberate email destruction to hinder justice. One detective reportedly told him: “If we had known this in 2011, we would have investigated fully and taken a different course of action, including considering arrests.”
Brown also accused Will Lewis, a former NGN executive and current Washington Post CEO, of attempting to incriminate him and ex-Labour deputy leader Tom Watson by falsely alleging they conspired to access emails of then-News International chief Rebekah Brooks. NGN has denied all allegations, stating that email deletions were for legitimate IT reasons and that prosecutors found no evidence of wrongdoing in 2015.
The complaint follows Prince Harry and Watson’s recent settlement with NGN over phone-hacking claims. Brown argues this case has “opened up” rather than closed scrutiny of media corruption. He is urging police to review court documents from past litigation and has called for parliamentary committees to reopen inquiries.
NGN dismissed Brown’s claims as “driven by vendetta” and maintains its cooperation with authorities. The Metropolitan Police said they would assess any new evidence but noted much of it had already been examined in prior investigations.
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