Journalistic Ethics: Billionaires' day at the Leveson inquiry - by Michael White

The Leveson inquiry into phone hacking has turned its attention to the secretive, foreign-based billionaires whose shadowy grip on much of Fleet Street influences millions of ordinary British lives. But the session was not all about the Telegraph-owning Barclay brothers. The Russian oligarchs and their Australian rival, Rupert Murdoch, also shared the spotlight.

They are all very different, but also similar, as billionaires tend to be, in important respects, such as having lots of money. And their devotion to free enterprise and meritocracy also has a strongly counterintuitive side to it: heredity.

So the Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev, who bought the London Evening Standard and (for £1) the Independent, was represented by his son, Evgeny (31), to whom dad gave both newspapers, as dads do. The Barclay twins, Dave and Fred, did the same. They sent young Aidan Barclay (55), who is chairman of the Telegraph Media Group, but does not own it yet.

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