Blair: media waged 'venedetta' against Cherie Mr Blair told the inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice in London that senior figures at Associated Newspapers, which owns the Daily Mail, had persecuted his wife. He said: "It's full-on, full frontal, day in, day out. That is not journalism, that's abuse of power. Mr Blair said rules for challenging such coverage are inadequate. What happens with these attacks is that even though you may end up getting an apology or damages, in a sense, who cares? Once a story is written, he said, it "enters the fabric" of popular imagination and is repeated and discussed, damaging a person's standing even if it was wrong. Mr Blair backed David Cameron for setting up the Leveson Inquiry, saying it was a chance to get the media in a "better place." He admitted he "feared the power" of the media when directed at him while in Downing Street but he did not challenge Rupert Murdoch or other media owners while in office. While he insisted it was normal for politicians to court the good opinion of the media, the relationship became "imbalanced" and led him to fear being "torn to pieces" by newspapers that blurred fact and comment, he said. He strongly denied the suggestion that his government's spin doctors had partly created the "phenomenon" of politicians trying too hard to manipulate the media. He claimed not to know whether either of his two closest advisers, Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson, engaged in "the stuff with dark arts" of spin. He said any media attack on his Labour rivals was not encouraged or authorised by him. "'I hate that type of politics and did not engage in it," he said. Mr Blair said he only became a godfather to Rupert Murdoch's daughter when their relationship became "easier and better" after he left Downing Street. It was the first time he has admitted taking on the role at the baptism of Grace Murdoch on the banks of the River Jordan in 2010. The former Prime Minister dismissed the idea that he was too "cosy" with Mr Murdoch and his family during his time in Downing Street. He said it was a "working relationship" in which Mr Murdoch "argued strongly about politics" and "never asked for political favours." He described how this developed into a friendship once there were no longer the "pressures" of needing support from Mr Murdoch's newspapers. Now it's different. I don't feel the same pressures. The inquiry was given 18 pages of evidence documenting Mr Blair's hundreds of meetings with media editors and owners during his decade in power, of which a third were with Mr Murdoch. The evidence showed that Mr Blair spoke to Mr Murdoch three times in the 10 days before the start of the Iraq war in 2003. Mr Blair said that was "ordinary" given the scale of the events involved and denied he was trying to influence the Murdoch papers" coverage of the conflict. Instead, he said, he was seeking his advice about public opinion in the United States and Australia. He repeatedly denied ever changing government policy to help Mr Murdoch's businesses, and said most of the relevant decisions he had made had actually gone against Mr Murdoch's interests. He insisted he had not felt under pressure "in relation to commercial interests from the Murdoch people or anyone else." Intervention for Murdoch Mr Blair did admit "intervening" on Mr Murdoch's behalf with the Italian Prime Minister when the tycoon was trying to buy a multi-billion pound business. He discussed Mr Murdoch's bid for Mediaset in a call to Romano Prodi in 1998. Mr Blair said he took his Cabinet Secretary's advice on "propriety" before asking Mr Prodi if there would be any "political objection" to the bid. At the time, Downing Street furiously denied media reports that Mr Blair had lobbied Mr Prodi over the deal. In written evidence to the inquiry, Mr Blair admits he asked Mr Prodi about his views on a possible deal but cannot remember how the incident "came about." Mr Murdoch has told the inquiry he remembers seeking Mr Blair's judgment on whether Italy would be receptive to a British company buying Mediaset but denies asking for an intervention. The deal did not go through after it emerged the Italians would have been hostile to Mr Murdoch owning the company. Mr Blair yesterday said he would have done the same for any other major company. Rebekah Brooks Mr Blair spoke of his sympathy for Rebekah Brooks, the Murdoch executive who last year lost her job over the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World. He contacted Mrs Brooks to say he was "sorry" to hear about her troubles. Mr Blair said he was no "fair weather friend" to Mrs Brooks, who has been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to phone hacking.