Despite its extraordinary grip over British politics back in July, the phone hacking scandal has largely faded from British public attention argues Alex Nicoll, Director of Editorial at IISS, in a discussion of his article 'Dangerous Liaisons' in the new issue of Survival: Global Politics and Strategy. In this interview, Nicoll, a former journalist at the Financial Times, provides an overview of the crisis and tells interviewer Dana Allin about the ferocious competitiveness of British journalism that contributed to it.
Discussing Rupert Murdoch’s supposed ‘kingmaker’ role in the UK, Nicoll suggests that he does not have an overt political agenda and has instead been primarily driven by commercial interest.
Nicoll also reflects on the impact of the crisis for the future of the British police and, more generally, on the perception of Britain as a country afflicted by a growing sense of political malaise.
