Letter from Westminster

Parliament went into the summer recess after an extraordinary two weeks in July – likely to mark a turning point in relations between the press, the police, and politicians.

The press have long played an important role in our democracy. Freedom of the press, to report broadly as it saw fit to hold institutions of the State to account, has been one of the defining features of modern Britain. But there has always been a balance to be struck between the rights of the individual to a private life and the public interest. This has allowed quality investigative journalism to uncover wrongdoing, which has helped keep this country more free from corruption than many others.

For many years, the press argued strongly for self-regulation and the Press Complaints Commission was set up to provide redress for abuse at the hands of the press. But this has failed.

The allegations emerging last month of systematic, widespread criminal activity by a private investigator acting for News of The World will, I sincerely hope, lead to a fundamental realignment of the all too cosy relationships between press, police and politicians.

For newspapers to pay investigators to hack into voicemail of families of murder victims and victims themselves; to do the same for victims of terror bombings in London and possibly elsewhere; to bribe police for information on arrest of celebrities, public figures and also members of the public who themselves turn out to be innocent: all this was completely shocking and appalling. I fear these practices may be far more widespread than just the News of the World and by the time you read this other newspapers may well have been implicated.

Politicians of all parties have courted the media at all levels. There is a necessary role for the dissemination of information and policy. So politicians and the press need to work with each other. But there is also no doubt that the political class have become too fearful of the power of endorsement by the press, or the threat of its loss.

This applies mainly to the print media rather than broadcasters since The Broadcasting Act requires impartiality on spoken and visual media.

Of course now I work with the press, in particular at a local level here in Shropshire, such as through this publication. I am also aware how fragile both local and national newspapers are at present as the power of the internet and technology undermines traditional business models.

So I do not want to see the press bludgeoned out of existence, but I do want to see much greater responsibility and accountability for their actions. This is why I so warmly welcome the inquiries the Prime Minister has set up: one under a senior judge, Lord Leveson, to look into what went wrong; and the other through a joint committee of both houses of Parliament to look at the future relationships between the press, police and politicians.

The Human Rights Act has effectively brought in a right of privacy through the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. This has led judges to grant super-injunctions to prevent newspapers from publishing details of the private lives of celebrities. But only the rich can afford to take advantage of this privacy law. I believe we need to set out, possibly in statute, a new code of conduct for the press which sets transparent tests about what is in the public interest and not merely the prurient. This will allow our fine tradition of investigative journalism to continue to reveal wrongdoing, but not simply titillation.

The other most shocking revelation has been the extent of police involvement with the press. We are short on details which will emerge through these inquiries but I fear public confidence in particular in the metropolitan police is at stake.

I hope that good will come from these appalling revelations so that Britain will continue to enjoy a vibrant and diverse free press and restore trust in our police.