Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi Arabian prince who holds the largest stake in News Corporation outside the Murdoch clan, has thrown his backing behind the succession of James Murdoch as the next head of the company.

Prince Alwaleed, whose business Kingdom Holdings owns a seven per cent stake in the business run by Rupert Murdoch, yesterday called James ‘Rupert Murdoch in the making”.

He told the Charlie Rose show: ‘”If he [Rupert Murdoch] doesn’t appoint him, I’ll be the first one to nominate him to be the successor of Mr Rupert Murdoch, God forbid if something happens to him,”