In the case of News Corp's proposed offer for BSkyB, the terms of the review were set at the end of last year by Vince Cable, as business secretary (before he was stripped of his media responsibilities). And Mr Cable restricted the scrutiny to the impact of the planned takeover on plurality.

The question of whether News Corp is a fit-and-proper owner was not part of the terms of reference.

That means, according to the culture department, Mr Hunt is now unable to consider whether News Corp is fit and proper in determining whether the bid should be allowed.

He has been told by his lawyers that News Corp will sue him, and win, if he now tries to change the terms of reference, to encompass a fit-and-proper test.

So, in case you haven't guessed by now, this means that when Mr Hunt delivers his verdict on the takeover - which won't be September, as I mentioned earlier - he will do so only the basis of its effect on plurality.

And since he has already made public his view that the takeover should be allowed on those grounds (subject to safeguards for the independence of Sky News) it is reasonable to assume that he will give the green light to News Corp buying BSkyB (though he knows that when he does so, the public outcry will be something to behold).

The one possible sliver lining the large and angry cloud is when various other politicos see the utter shelacking Jeremy Hunt (oh, if ever there was an appropriate name...) is going to get when this goes through, it'll possibly mean the next time they're inclined to bend over for corporate interests they'll think twice about it.

To use a rather macabre analogy, I once saw an ex member of Mossad talking about how they really wanted to deal with the guys firing rockets across the border. 'You kill the leader', he said 'Well someone else will just come along in his place..' the interviewer replied. The ex-spook looked the interviewer square in the eye and responded 'yes, and you kill him too. And the guy who comes after him. By the time you've done it 6 or so times, nobody will want to be leader any more'.

Jon

The simple answer to the title of the thread is NO

If Ofcom do not find reason to suspend the takeover then they are useless. If they are found to be unfit then News International should be forced to sell its shares in BSkyB. That is why News International are scrambling around trying to destroy evidence.

The rules that were set up do not include a "fit and proper" test, so it is not in the remit for the take over to be given the yeah and neigh over.
Also if you have to be a fit and proper person to own a newspaper that would mean quite a few owners would have to sell or shut down the newspapers they own.
Plus Murdoch may be a odious [LIFTED] but are we to have owners of companies based on public opinion? A lynch mob mentality to decide who can own what?

With such a scale and tempo of snooping, every person on the British Isles could have been exhibited naked in their moments of love or grief in front of his countrymen. Certainly Murdoch is no more guilty than the two-and-a-half million people who rushed to the trough called the News of the World once a week in order to eat their fill. Everyone has his own freedom