Sir Harold Evans yesterday flatly contradicted Rupert Murdoch’s account of his acrimonious exit from the paper as editor in 1981.

And he urged Lord Justice Leveson to see Margaret Thatcher’s controversial decision to allow Murdoch’s take over the Times and Sunday Times titles in 1981 as the genesis of the hacking scandal and of complaints NI has used its media clout in the UK to wield political influence.

In evidence to Leveson last month Murdoch insisted he had never sought to influence the editorial of the Times and that he sacked Evans because he was told he was facing ‘an insurrection in the staff’against him.