The decision by the Commons culture media and sport committee to brand Rupert Murdoch "not fit" to run a international company has let the media mogul off the hook, a Tory member of the committee has said.

Damian Collins has sharply criticised Labour MP Tom Watson for pressing the committee to agree on the phrasing in the face of opposition from almost half of its members.

The five Labour MPs on the committee voted in favour of that part of the report, published to great fanfare yesterday, however the four Tory MPs including Collins, voted against it.

Writing for The Huffington Post UK on Wednesday, Collins said this split down party lines had undermined the report.

"The opportunity to give people a clear view of the committee's work and findings in our long inquiry into phone hacking has been lost," he said.

"The chance for a group of 11 politicians drawn from across the House of Commons to unite in a series of powerful and evidence based conclusions has been missed."

Collins added: "Rupert Murdoch will be the person most pleased with this result as he can claim that our report is split and politically motivated.

"This will also give comfort to the senior executives from News Corporation that the committee decided unanimously had misled parliament."

"In the end, the committee decided to play the man rather than the ball, and as a result missed the open goal."