Can James Murdoch argue himself out of this corner?

After the release of shocking new phone-hacking documents, the News Corporation executive is surely too compromised to stay

Brian Cathcart, guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 16 August 2011 15.00 BST

Tom Watson MP said the new material was devastating and he was not exaggerating. Difficult though it may be to believe, documents released by the Commons culture, media and sport select committee are at least as damaging to News International management as the revelation last month that Milly Dowler's voicemail had been hacked. That news prompted disgrace and resignations: now we are looking at possible criminal charges at senior levels.

Assuming that these documents hold up to scrutiny, a whole raft of executives – not journalists or editors, but well above that level – are surely likely to be questioned by police investigating the possibility of a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Arrests in some cases must be likely.