Tony Blair grilled on ties with Murdoch at phone hacking probe

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The power of the press is "pretty intense," Blair says


• Murdoch's papers switched support to Blair's party before he was elected


• The media baron earlier denied ever asking Blair for anything


• More than 50 people have been arrested in a related police investigation

London (CNN) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was grilled Monday about his ties with global media baron Rupert Murdoch at an independent inquiry set up in response to phone hacking and police bribery at Murdoch newspapers in Britain.

Blair insisted it was "inevitable, essential and crucial" that top journalists and politicians have close relations, but added that he was "acutely aware" that the relationship could be "unhealthy" because of the power of the press.

"The relationship is one in which you feel this pretty intense power," he said as he began testifying at the Leveson Inquiry into British press ethics.

Murdoch's best-selling Sun tabloid famously switched allegiance from the Conservative party to Blair's Labour party before the 1997 election that swept Blair into power, prompting the Sun headline: "It's the Sun wot won it."

But Murdoch himself criticized that headline when he testified before the Leveson Inquiry, syaing he did not believe it was either true or a wise claim to make.

He insisted strongly that there had been no quid pro quo with Blair for the support of his papers in 1997.

"I, in 10 years in his power there, never asked Tony Blair for any favors and never received any," Murdoch said, pounding his hand on the table for emphasis.

The Leveson Inquiry was established in the wake of British public anger at Murdoch's News of the World over the hacking of voice messages of a missing teenage girl who turned out to have been murdered.

The case of Milly Dowler came on top of apologies from the tabloid for the hacking of the phones of celebrities and politicians, and proved the last straw for the paper, which was shut down in July.

Prime Minister David Cameron set up the Leveson Inquiry to explore press ethics in Britain more widely, alongside a police investigation into phone hacking, e-mail hacking and police bribery by people working for Murdoch's British newspapers.

More than 50 people have been arrested. Prosecutors this month announced charges against six people including Rebekah Brooks, a former News of the World and Sun editor who later became chief executive of News International, the British newspaper publishing arm of Mrudoch's News Corp.

She, her husband and four others are charged with interfering with the police investigation.

Blair's former director of communications said earlier this month that the relationship between the press and the political elite in Britain was too cozy.

"I've been arguing for some years (that the relationship) got itself into a very, very bad place and I hope it can lead to change," Alastair Campbell told CNNI's Christiane Amanpour.

"It's not just about Rupert Murdoch," he said. "We have a lot of newspapers in a geographically fairly small country. ... And I think any political leader has to take account of the role they play in the political debate."

Campbell, a former newspaper editor who became Blair's spokesman when the Labour party was in opposition in the 1990s, said he hoped "some form of proper regulation" would arise from the hacking and bribery scandal.

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