“Allegedly” my shapely, hirsute backside……..

………Will Lewis, the former publisher of The Washington Post and a senior executive at Rupert Murdoch’s News International, is accused of playing a central role in covering up the UK phone-hacking scandal. 

He was involved in the destruction of millions of emails between September 2010 and February 2011, allegedly as part of a scheme to conceal evidence.  This occurred despite a live police investigation (Operation Weeting) and a legal obligation to preserve such data.

Lewis allegedly misled the Metropolitan Police by claiming that the email deletions were necessary to prevent a plot by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour MP Tom Watson to steal sensitive data from Rebekah Brooks, the then-chief executive of News International.  Brown has dismissed this claim as a “complete fabrication.”

He is accused of failing to prevent the disappearance of eight filing cabinets containing potential evidence from the News of the World’s offices, as well as attempting to suppress access to hard drives and IT staff emails linked to the scandal. 

Lewis allegedly served on the Management and Standards Committee (MSC)—a body set up by Murdoch to liaise with police—while undermining the investigation’s effectiveness, according to claimants in a civil lawsuit. 

The UK police have launched a special inquiry into these allegations, and a trial is scheduled for January 2025 to assess the claims.  Lewis denies wrongdoing.

These actions have raised serious ethical concerns about his integrity and are central to the controversy surrounding his appointment at The Washington Post.

https://pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/media-jobs-uk-news/will-lewis-out-as-washington-post-ceo-days-after-mass-layoffs