The alleged comments prompted one British MP to call for police questioning of Mr Murdoch. According to the transcript, Mr Murdoch tells senior staff at The Sun that he was aware his journalists had been bribing police and public officials from the day he bought its sister paper, the News of the World, in 1969. ‘‘We’re talking about payments for news tips from cops: that’s been going on a hundred years, absolutely. You didn’t instigate it,’’ Mr Murdoch is heard saying on the tape. ‘‘I remember when I first bought the News of the World, the first day I went to the office… and there was a big wall-safe… And I said, ‘What’s that for?’. ‘‘And they said, ‘We keep some cash in there.’ And I said, ‘What for?’ They said, ‘Well, sometimes the editor needs some on a Saturday night for powerful friends. And sometimes the chairman [the late Sir William Carr] is doing badly at the tables, and he helps himself …..’’

Mr Murdoch also alluded to succession plans at News Corp, telling staff that either his son Lachlan Murdoch or senior executive Robert Thompson would take over the company, in an apparent sidelining of James Murdoch. Graham Dudman, The Sun’s former managing editor, asked: “Will the company’s support vanish overnight if you’re not here?” Mr Murdoch responds: “Yes, if I wasn’t here, the decision would be, well, it will either be with my son, Lachlan, or with Robert Thomson [News Corporation chief executive]. And you don’t have any worries about either of them.” The tapes reveal a media baron in a far different mood from the one who told MPs when before a Commons select committee that this was "the most humble day of his life". On the tape, Mr Murdoch vents his anger at the continuing police investigation into the alleged phone-hacking and illegal payments to officials by journalists working for his media empire.

The News Corp boss was heard describing the treatment of journalists who had been arrested as a "disgrace" and suggesting that he regretted the extent to which the company had co-operated with the investigation. Mr Murdoch is heard railing at the way the police behaved. "Still, I mean, it's a disgrace. Here we are, two years later, and the cops are totally incompetent," he said. When one of the journalists present questioned why so much material had been handed over to the police by News Corp's management and standards committee, Mr Murdoch indicated that he believed they had gone too far. "Because - it was a mistake, I think. But, in that atmosphere, at that time, we said, 'Look, we are an open book, we will show you everything.' And the lawyers just got rich going through millions of emails," he said.

Mr Murdoch also appeared to suggest that any journalists who were convicted and jailed in connection with the inquiry could get their jobs back. "I will do everything in my power to give you total support, even if you're convicted and get six months or whatever," he said. "You're all innocent until proven guilty. What you're asking is: what happens if some of you are proven guilty? What afterwards? I'm not allowed to promise you - I will promise you continued health support - but your jobs. I've got to be careful what comes out - but, frankly, I won't say it, but just trust me." Labour MP Tom Watson said Mr Murdoch's comments contrasted with his contrite appearance before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee two years ago. News Corp released a statement defending Mr Murdoch, stating he had shown "understandable empathy" with staff.

“Mr Murdoch never knew of payments made by Sun staff to police before News Corp disclosed that to UK Authorities. Furthermore, he never said he knew of payments. It’s absolutely false to suggest otherwise,” the company said. UK Labour MP Tom Watson called for police to question Mr Murdoch over the alleged comments. ‘‘Rupert Murdoch told Parliament one thing and told his staff another. He told Parliament that he was fully co-operating with the police, he told his staff that it was a mistake they were co-operating with the police,’’ Mr Watson told the UK's Channel 4 News. Loading A spokesman for News Corp told Channel 4 News: ‘‘No other company has done as much to identify what went wrong, compensate the victims, and ensure the same mistakes do not happen again.

with PA and wires