Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday denied responsibility for alleged phone hacking at his News of the World newspaper, as he appeared before a British parliamentary committee, blaming his company’s size and bureaucracy for the failure of executives to inform him of key developments as the scandal unfolded.

The chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, flanked by his son James, described his appearance before the media select committee as “the most humble day of my life”, but said he had not considering resigning. He had been betrayed by unnamed people he trusted, he said: “It is for them to pay. I think that frankly I’m the best person to clean this up.”

After more than two hours of political theatre, the hearing descended into ugly farce after a man who had been sitting in the hearing room attempted to hit Mr Murdoch in the face with a foam pie.