Home news: Les has 'a bit of internal domestic discussion'

Les Hinton, Rupert Murdoch's 64-year-old right hand man, has said he has no plans to retire. The former News International chief turned Dow Jones boss added that the challenge of taking the company to the next level after News Corporation bought it in December was "irresistible". However, Hinton has admitted to News Corp newspaper the Australian that there were some tricky negotiations on the home front before accepting Murdoch's offer of the role last year. "I'd done the [News International] job in London for 12 years, so this was a big change," he said. "And my partner was working as an adviser to Gordon Brown, the British prime minister. So we had a bit of internal domestic discussion." Les, you old smoothy! Considering Hinton's partner Kath Raymond had taken up the plum post as adviser to the prime minister only months before New York came calling, Monkey wonders whether "bit of internal domestic discussion" is a typical Les euphemism.