Is Rebekah Brooks still on the News International payroll?

Although Rebekah Brooks apparently resigned from News International a couple of weeks ago, there are rumours emerging that she might still be on the company’s payroll. If the rumours are true, there will likely be renewed concern in some quarters about how the Murdochs are dealing with the phone hacking crisis.

Tim Walker at the Daily Telegraph says that News International refused to comment on the rumours, and that he believes they are true. Walker adds that Brooks has allegedly been told to ‘travel the world’ for a year. On Twitter, @ExNOTWJourno2 makes the same claims, although it’s not clear if (s)he is just repeating what Walker wrote.

There was much criticism of the decision a couple of months ago to close the News of the World, with many job losses, while keeping Rebekah Brooks at the company. Her resignation seemed to defuse some of this criticism, and it remains to be seen how the public will react if News International doesn’t firmly deny the latest rumours.