London: Relations between Rupert Murdoch and Tony Blair have collapsed over reports of Mr Blair’s friendship with the media mogul’s ex-wife, Wendi Deng.
The former Prime Minister has always maintained his friendship with Ms Deng is platonic.
But Mr Murdoch is said to regard the rift with Mr Blair as ‘terminal’ and has refused to speak to him since he filed for divorce from Ms Deng in June. Mr Blair has tried to contact Mr Murdoch but has been rebuffed.
Sources close to Mr Murdoch in London say that staff at his home in California claimed Mr Blair and Ms Deng stayed there overnight at the same time on weekends in October 2012 and April this year, without Mr Murdoch’s knowledge.
It is also claimed that Mr Blair and Ms Deng had ‘multiple encounters’ of which Mr Murdoch was unaware. They are said to include a weekend overnight stay at Mr Murdoch’s home in Los Angeles and meetings in London and New York.
There is no suggestion by this newspaper of any impropriety by Mr Blair or Ms Deng. And Mr Blair’s friends have repeatedly denied he had an affair with Ms Deng.
The divorce of Mr Murdoch, 82, and his 44-year-old third wife, was finalised by a US court last week.
A bitter war of words broke out last night between the rival camps of Mr Blair and Mr Murdoch.
A close friend of Mr Blair said: ‘Rupert Murdoch is putting out ridiculous stories about Wendi and Tony which are not true. It is the ravings of a sad old man.’
A friend of News Corporation boss Mr Murdoch, whose newspaper empire includes The Sun and The Times, said: ‘Rupert Murdoch will have nothing more to do with Tony Blair. Not ever.’
A source close to Mr Murdoch said: ‘Rupert has been thorough, careful and has not acted lightly.
‘If you think that Rupert made a decision to end his marriage and a long-term friendship without just cause, you are sorely mistaken.’
An individual who has known Mr Murdoch for many years, said: ‘Rupert and Wendi’s marriage was already in a bad way. But the connection with Blair did not help.’
Mr Murdoch and Mr Blair formed one of the most powerful alliances in British politics, and it was a key factor in the three election victories which kept the Labour leader in Downing Street from 1997 to 2007.
Unlike other leaders endorsed by Mr Murdoch, such as Margaret Thatcher, Mr Blair became a family friend which culminated in Mr Blair becoming godfather to the Murdochs’ daughter Grace in 2010. Sources close to the household staff at Mr Murdoch’s sprawling $20 million cattle ranch in Carmel Valley, California, said the staff told Mr Murdoch of two overnight stays at weekends by Ms Deng and Mr Blair at the ranch – both without Mr Murdoch’s knowledge.
Murdoch bought the ranch with second wife, Anna, in the 1990s and it is where his three older children, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James spent their summer holidays.
‘I come here because my family and I love it,’ Mr Murdoch said in 2006. ‘I feel completely relaxed. It’s where we gather as a family. I use the ranch as a retreat to entertain my executive and senior team members. People appreciate that you entertain them in your home.’
Sources close to Mr Murdoch claim Ms Deng and Mr Blair also met in London – where Murdoch owns a luxury apartment near The Ritz hotel – and in New York.
They are also said to have stayed overnight in Los Angeles, where Murdoch also has a home.
It is understood that the Murdochs’ daughters, Grace, 11 and Chloe, nine, were not present at any of the alleged meetings.
Mr Blair’s friends are adamant that the relationship between him and Ms Deng was ‘entirely innocent and above board.’ One said: ‘They never met alone, there were always others around.
They are friends and Blair is godfather to one of the couple’s children, for heaven’s sake.’ Allies of Mr Murdoch say he was ‘shocked’ to learn Wendi had met Mr Blair without his knowledge, and on more than one occasion – and in particular that Mr Blair had been in his home without him knowing.
It is understood he asked her for an explanation. Her reply is not known. ‘From Rupert’s point of view, she was not completely open with him and he disapproved of that,’ said one source.
Mr Murdoch’s camp insist the account of Wendi’s meetings with Mr Blair are accurate.
They say that the alleged meeting at Mr Murdoch’s ranch in Carmel was reported back to him by domestic staff. They deny he used private investigators to check on the movements of Ms Deng and Mr Blair.
Claims of an affair between Mr Blair and Ms Deng swept the internet when Mr Murdoch filed for divorce in June. They were sparked by a tweet from BBC journalist Robert Peston who said: ‘Am told that undisclosed reasons for Murdoch divorcing Deng are jaw-dropping and hate myself for wanting to know what they are.’
At the time, a spokesman for Mr Blair denied he had had an affair with Ms Deng.
The friendship between Ms Deng and Mr Blair was well known long before the Murdoch marriage break up. In 2012, in an article in the Guardian newspaper, headlined ‘Tony Blair and the Murdochs: a family affair’, Murdoch’s biographer Michael Wolff described Mr Blair as ‘one of Wendi’s first official social conquests.’
Wolff suggested Mr Blair regarded Ms Deng as a key link in his political wooing of her husband. He wrote: ‘Blair becomes one of Wendi’s first official social conquests, in her developing role both as Murdoch social emissary and social power player. Wendi . . . is a way for Blair to see himself as having control of Murdoch, of joining with Wendi to handle him.’
Wolff said that when he wrote about Mr Murdoch in 2008, Ms Deng urged him to speak to Blair and ‘personally set up the appointment.’
In an article in the New York Times last year, friends of Ms Deng said the Murdochs were living ‘largely separate lives.’ She looked after their children while her husband focused on his business interests, it said.
Mr Blair’s place at the heart of the Murdoch dynasty appeared to be sealed at Grace’s christening in 2010 on the banks of the River Jordan, at the spot where Jesus is said to have been baptised. Mr Blair wore a white suit.
Also there were Hollywood stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, Queen Rania of Jordan, Donald Trump’s daughter and a photographer from Hello! magazine
Mr Blair’s role was kept secret until it was disclosed a year later by the then Mrs Murdoch in an interview with Vogue magazine which described him as one of her ‘closest friends’.
Mr Murdoch and Ms Deng met in 1997 when he visited Shanghai for a business trip and wanted to hire a translator and guide.
Ms Deng, a brilliant and highly ambitious graduate from America’s Yale business school, and who worked at Star TV, Murdoch’s Asian satellite network, came to his rescue. Mr Murdoch later said: ‘Who wouldn’t fall in love with a beautiful woman like that?’
A spokesperson for Mr Murdoch declined to comment, as did Ms Deng’s spokesman. We emailed questions to Mr Blair’s spokesperson yesterday morning. She said she would reply later in the day, but despite repeated calls and emails, declined to make a statement.
A source close to Mr Blair said that he had insisted claims of an affair were ‘categorically untrue’ and that remained his position. #Source: The Daily Mail
