Rupert Murdoch – criticised
Murdoch failed to react when evidence of "casual and cavalier" journalism on the now defunct News of the World emerged through the Max Moseley privacy case. Leveson said the fact Murdoch had not bothered to read the legal judgment "says something about the degree to which his organisation engages with the ethical direction of its newspapers". However Leveson also recognised that the media magnate has "undeniable business acumen", and is "an iconoclast in a number of respects" with "immense power". Leveson found that his power was largely implicit and politicians knew exactly what they were doing when they met him. "It is the without having to ask which is especially important here. Sometimes the very greatest power is exercised without having to ask because to ask would be to state the blindingly obvious." He adds: "Just as Murdoch's editors knew the basic ground rules, so did politicians."
David Cameron – cleared
Leveson rejected the suggestion that the Conservatives agreed a deal with News Corp on its bid for BSkyB. But Leveson also acknowledges the prime minister's expression of regret that he and other politicians became too close to senior media figures. "The problem is not unique to any individual politician or any one political party," Leveson said.
Andy Coulson – no judgment
With legal proceedings still active there is little in the report about the allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World relating to the period of Coulson's editorship. There was "no evidence" Coulson was on a retainer from News International when he become director of communications for the Conservative party in 2007, but he received cash and shares from his former employer as part of a termination agreement.
Rebekah Brooks – criticised
Leveson describes the former chief executive of News International as "influential, and supremely connected" with "warm" relations with David Cameron. Brooks is criticised in relation to the Sun's revelations that Gordon Brown's four-month-old son Fraser, had cystic fibrosis. Leveson said Brooks had not "deliberately misled the inquiry" when she said the Browns had agreed to publication. But he said she is "guilty of a degree of blinkeredness" adding "had she stopped to place herself in Mrs Brown's situation, she would have begun to understand the predicament in which she had been placed. In all the circumstances, Mrs Brooks should have asked a series of direct questions of Mrs Brown to satisfy herself that consent was fully and freely given, and should have given her the express option of vetoing publication."
Paul Dacre – criticised
Leveson said the Daily Mail editor showed a "failure to consider personal consequences of publishing information about an individual's private life" in relation to two separate stories published, one on the alleged drunken behaviour of actor Neil Morrissey and an attack on Abigail Witchalls, who was left paralysed after being stabbed in front of her son. He admonished Dacre for his "unwillingness to entertain the idea that each of these stories might have been hurtful, upsetting and/or damaging to the individuals involved" even after hearing from both individuals.
The judge also criticised Dacre for going too far when he attacked Hugh Grant, accusing him of spreading "mendacious smears" when he testified in the inquiry that he believed a story about him may have come from phone hacking. Leveson accepted Dacre's evidence that he never placed a story in the paper that he knew came from phone hacking, but said the editor had refused to engage with the inquiry's question that his attack amounted to an allegation that Grant had committed perjury. "In making that accusation the Daily Mail was increasing the temperature and went too far," he said.
Jeremy Hunt – cleared
The Leveson report found there was no "credible evidence" that Hunt was biased in his handling of the BSkyB bid which was "commendably handled" in all respects bar one. But there was "a serious hidden problem" in the frequent intimate and persistent communications between News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel and Hunt's special adviser Adam Smith, who fell on his sword during the Leveson inquiry because of his relationship with Michel, who bombarded him with emails and text messages during the takeover bid. Leveson found Smith "was diligent … to a fault" before the bid but he should not have "succumbed" to Michel's "intimate, surreptitious" communications and "got way too close" and ended up "probably passing on confidential government thinking which should never have been imparted to News Corp". Leveson concludes: "Best practice of the kind encapsulated in the Cabinet Office guidance on quasi-judicial decision-making was not followed."
John Yates – cleared and criticised
The former Met police assistant commissioner is cleared of corruption but criticised for failing to stand aside during the original phone-hacking inquiry because of his friendship with the News of the World's deputy editor Neil Wallis. Leveson writes that he "demonstrated poor judgment" in failing to have sufficient respect for the allegations made in the Guardian article".
Paul McMullan – criticised
The former News of the World feature writer provided the inquiry with some of its most "provocative" quotes when he declared "privacy was for paedos". Leveson said it was difficult to assess McMullan's evidence because of a tendency to sensationalise and exaggerate. He was "not an attractive witness" but he concluded that his evidence "did obtain a substantial kernel of truth".
Alex Salmond – criticised
Salmond was willing to breach the Scottish ministerial code by lobbying on behalf of Rupert Murdoch – though he never actually did it. The judge said the first minister showed a "striking" willingness to lobby in favour of Murdoch's buyout of BSkyB but he failed to carry through with his promised lobbying of either Vince Cable, the business secretary, or Jeremy Hunt, then culture secretary.
Piers Morgan – criticised
Leveson found "evidence of unethical or unlawful publication based on the calculation of legal risk versus potential profits", during Morgan's Mirror editorship. Leveson clears him of ordering hacking of voicemails but found he was aware of it and expresses "serious concern" that the only reaction to the rumours circulating in Fleet Street were "a series of 'in-jokes' at award ceremonies and unguarded references in memoirs". Leveson found some of his evidence "utterly unpersuasive".
