Former British prime minister Tony Blair is godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch’s young children, sources said Monday, raising fresh questions about British political links to the media mogul’s empire.
The revelation emerged in a Vogue magazine interview with Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng, which also contains claims that Blair was present when Murdoch and Deng’s two daughters were baptised beside the River Jordan in March last year.
A spokesman for Blair’s London office and a spokeswoman for Murdoch’s US-based News Corporation both refused to comment on the story in Vogue’s October UK edition, which is out on Thursday.
But sources close to Murdoch’s News Corporation confirmed to AFP that Blair was godfather to Grace, aged nine, Murdoch’s eldest daughter by third wife Wendi. A source close to Blair also confirmed the Vogue story was true.
News of the link between former Labour premier Blair and Australian-born Murdoch comes two months after the tycoon was forced to close down his News of the World tabloid amid a scandal over phone-hacking. The Vogue article, extracts of which were published in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper on Monday, says Blair attended the ceremony “garbed in white” and describes him as one of Wendi Deng’s “closest friends”. Hollywood stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman were named publicly as godparents to Murdoch’s young daughters at the time of the ceremony on the banks of the River Jordan, but Blair did not feature in photographs that were released.
Jordan’s Queen Rania hosted the baptism of Grace and Chloe, eight, Vogue said.
