This was one of the toughest weeks of Theresa May

The week in politics: May and Murdoch, ducking and diving

The week in politics: May and Murdoch, ducking and diving

Theresa May and James Murdoch found themselves in tight spots this week. Their tactics in trying to wriggle out of them couldn't have been more different.

By Alex Stevenson

Here's the home secretary in the Commons this Monday. The hostile opposition are hurling abuse at her from across the chamber, because it's emerged border controls weren't quite as tight as they should have been this summer. The situation is so bad even David Cameron is on hand to offer her moral support. Here's a sentence from my news story covering her statement:

"I am very happy to stand here and take responsibility for the decisions I have taken," Ms May told MPs, before explaining that the key decision was not made by her.

Sometimes sarcasm is the only way forward, even in news copy. For May's whole strategy was based around the 'it wasn't me guv' defence. She blamed the head of the Border Force, Bodie Clarke, for exceeding ministerial instructions. He had resigned on Tuesday after May repeated her claim she hadn't ordered the loosening on passport checks to MPs. After Clark issued a defiant statement on Tuesday evening, there was no surprise Ed Miliband chose to tear up Cameron on the issue in Wednesday's prime minister's questions.

The only competition for the 'most embattled person in Westminster' award this week was News Corp's own James Murdoch – or, as Tom Watson would have it, News Don Corp-leone. The Labour MP did his best to rub Murdoch's face in it by calling him the head of a "criminal organisation" – a mafia organisation, to boot. I spent the two-and-a-half hours in the committee room watching Murdoch wriggle under the pressure of it all – and believe me, he didn't like it one bit.

Thanks to the training of his legal eagle colleagues, Murdoch had a robust defence that was very different from May's. It was the dead bat approach, blocking all questions. He could not "recall" this, he was unsure, uncertain or unwilling to divulge on that. When you ask a man a question and he replies with: "I have no knowledge of the veracity or the substantiveness of those allegations," you know you're not getting very far. However many headlines the name-calling might have attracted, there was a sense MPs didn't make much progress.

Outside Westminster, protests took a back seat – for once. A tuition fees demo through London on Wednesday passed off largely peacefully, and so was therefore judged relatively un-newsworthy by most news providers. Who cares if they're going to behave themselves? (We do, honest – here's our news story) Likewise, the St Paul's protest has settled into something of a stalemate. This week it was only of real concern to Ed Miliband, as he fears they are stealing his thunder as leader of the opposition.

Zooming out any further is a perilous business, for it leads to the eurozone crisis coming into sharp focus. British politicians are mostly spectators for this one. And uncomfortable viewing it makes. But news of a new Italian government, the departure of Silvio Berlusconi and the formation of a new Greek unity administration offered some cautious grounds for optimism.

Next week Theresa May will continue her spat with Clark, when the latter takes to the home affairs committee on Tuesday to once again attack the government. With MPs scarpering off home after just two days, it's bound to be the event of the week.