Brooks denies knowledge of any phone hacking
Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks has told a court she had no idea phone hacking happened under her watch and did not expect she herself would come under investigation.
Giving evidence for a seventh day at the Old Bailey in London, Brooks was questioned about Operation Weeting - Scotland Yard's inquiry into the issue, which was announced in January 2011 when she was chief executive of News International.
Asked by her defence lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw QC if she expected she would be investigated, Brooks said: "No, absolutely not."
The 45-year-old has maintained that she believed any allegations of phone hacking had taken place before she became editor of the News of the World in 2002.
"Well, obviously I always had my own view, which was I didn't believe that it had," she told jurors today.
Asked about comments made by Labour MP Chris Bryant in early 2011 about the allegations, Brooks said she believed it was the result of The Sun dropping its support of the party ahead of the 2010 general election and switching to the Conservatives.
She told jurors: "It seems a bit long-winded but by this time there was no love lost between someone like Chris Bryant and he particularly had a grievance against The Sun for a story they'd written - I'm pretty sure during my editorship or maybe on the cusp of my leaving - a personal story about him."
Brooks, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, denies conspiring to hack phones, conspiring to commit misconduct in public office and conspiring to cover up evidence to pervert the course of justice.
All seven defendants deny the charges against them.
Brooks said she developed what she described as a "growing concern" that she would become involved in the investigation when it became apparent police were looking at a wider time frame then at first.
She also said she remembered being "very upset" when she was told she would not be allowed to be a part of "what we called internally the confidentiality club" due to this.
"I was again very surprised because I couldn't see why and also it had come out of the blue, so to speak," she added.
Asked why the News of the World changed its previous stance and went on to admit liability for civil claims brought against it by celebrities, Brooks said it was because they had been settling them one after the other.
She said: "I think we decided that actually we should admit liability, face up to all the claims however many there were going to be and just be very open and public about it rather than the initial view which was... to protect the company from a reputational point of view and a financial point of view, and it wasn't the right strategy and this was the right strategy."
She told jurors that she had discussed shutting down the Sunday paper with her colleagues before they eventually did in July 2011 as she questioned was "the brand too toxic for itself and the company".
