This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Rupert Murdoch has told the Leveson inquiry Gordon Brown was "unbalanced" after recounting details of a hostile phone conversation with the former Labour prime minister in 2009.

The tycoon spoke of what he characterised as an angry Labour leader shortly after it emerged that the Sun was going to support the Conservatives, saying that Brown pledged to "declare war" on News Corporation.

Murdoch said he told Brown "we have come to the conclusion that we will support a change of government when and if there's an election" and said that the prime minister responded by threatening him.

According to Murdoch, Brown said: "Well, your company has declared war on my government and we have no alternative but to make war on your company."

Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked Murdoch how he thought the prime minister could have attacked News Corp. "I don't know. I don't think he was in a very balanced state of mind," Murdoch replied. "I don't know. Set up more commissions."

The Sun switched its support from Labour to the Conservatives with a front-page story headlined "Labour's lost it", published on 30 September 2009, hours after Brown had delivered what would be his final party conference speech as prime minister.

Rupert's son James Murdoch told the Leveson inquiry on Monday that David Cameron was informed the Sun was planning to change sides at a meeting about three weeks before the front-page splash.

Murdoch then complained that "when the hacker scandal broke" in July 2011 the by now former prime minister made a "totally outrageous statement" that "he had to know was wrong, when he called us a 'criminal organisation'".

He said Brown had wrongly accused the Sun of hacking into his personal medical records, when "he knew very well" how the tabloid had found out that his son Fraser had cystic fibrosis. "A father from the hospital in a similar position had called us," he added.

Murdoch also said that Rebekah Brooks, the then Sun editor, took personal control of the original 2006 story about Fraser, dealing directly with Sarah Brown before publication.

Murdoch said Brown had written a "personal letter" to Brooks "thanking her for her sensitivity" – a letter that Murdoch said he believed was now "in the hands of the police".