His attention initially centred on what appeared to be a minor story when a private investigator and a journalist from the News of the World received short jail sentences for accessing other people’s voicemail messages, principally those of members of the Royal family. Six years later he had discovered an astonishing story of illegal intrusion and corruption on a massive scale. Davies’ account of how Murdoch and his dysfunctional lieutenants ensnared, enslaved, and frightened generations of politicians is blistering. But they were merely the core of the affair. There was attendant police corruption and cover-ups. There was involvement by Downing Street where a former NotW star Andy Coulson had become a confidante of David Cameron, himself a close friend of Rebekah Brooks, another leading light in the Murdoch empire.