It's about time the Murdoch operation is held to account

Let's imagine a bank - an ethically challenged one. Its staff have been accused of widespread criminality. It first tries to lie about it all, but that doesn't matter too much because the police and regulator conveniently turn a blind eye. MPs run for cover; the media shrugs.

- ALAN RUSBRIDGER

Eventually, the bad smell won't go away. When it gets too pungent, the cops decide to investigate - but before they can start work, tens of millions of emails are deleted. There's suddenly less to investigate.

MPs begin to take an interest. The bank is worried and hires investigators to hack into their phone messages to find out what they might be up to. Private investigators are quietly deployed to dig up any dirt on anyone who might get awkward. If there's sleaze on a troublesome MP, it's discreetly slipped to a friendly tabloid. Finish them off.

The timing couldn't be worse: the bank's in the middle of a big takeover deal. It hires a lobbyist to cosy up to the relevant big cheeses. Meanwhile, the surveillance continues. Can't take a chance. But the whiff gets stronger. The CEO is paid off. A cop or two fall on their swords. A few middle-ranking executives are thrown under the bus.

Fast forward: the deal doesn't come off. For a while the stink is overpowering, but the bank has deep pockets and can afford to pay off any victims of criminality. Admit nothing: it will pass. It does, sort of. The CEO is rehired when things calm down a bit. Back to business as normal.

Of course, that's all a fantasy: no bank could possibly get away with such a thing. I mean, the odd top banker has come close to feeling the handcuffs, and has, in the end, been cleared. But the thought that they would ever be rehired is laughable. There would be a total cleanout of the board. Proper sackcloth and ashes. Society would accept nothing less.

No: such a pattern of total impunity could only happen in a global media company. And, of course, you've worked out by now that the above chain of events didn't happen in the financial sector, but in Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper operation. It's a plotline straight out of Succession - only it's for real.