MP for Folkestone and Hythe Damian Collins

The Folkestone MP said a “fit and proper person” was a specific legal test applied by regulator Ofcom and something the select committee was unable to rule on

Tory MP for Folkestone Damian Collins has criticised a key finding in the hacking report which claims media mogul Rupert Murdoch is “not a fit person” to run a major international business.

While Mr Collins, who is on the Commons media select committee, was united with other MPs in criticism towards former executive chairman of News International Les Hinton, former editor of News of the World Colin Myler and the paper’s ex-head of legal Tom Crone, the Kent MP said he had not backed the statement about Mr Murdoch’s suitability to run a major corporation.

Mr Collins said a “fit and proper person” was a specific legal test applied by regulator Ofcom and something the committee was unable to rule on.

He said while people may have personal opinions of Mr Murdoch, the way he ran his companies was not something the committee had investigated.

The committee was split over a number of the key findings, including the verdict on Rupert Murdoch, with Tories voting against and Labour and the Lib Dems voting in favour.

The report found that Mr Murdoch exhibited “wilful blindness” to what was going on at News Corporation, whose UK newspaper arm admitted widespread malpractice at the News of the World.

Myler, Crone and Hinton – accused of misleading Parliament – could be referred to the House of Commons to decide whether there has been a contempt of Parliament.