The great Leveson whitewash

Lord Justice Leveson, delivering his speech.

Oh, all right – greywash.

Please note: This is an initial reaction to the Leveson report, based on Lord Justice Leveson’s speech today (November 29). The report itself is 2,000 pages long and may contain much more that is of interest to us. But that will have to wait for another day.

Lord Justice Leveson has come out with his report which, in effect, advocates as little change to current press regulation as he thought he could get away with.

Jeremy Hunt, the Murdochs, George Osborne and David Cameron can all sleep comfortably tonight, in the knowledge that the skeletons in their closets have not been disturbed.

Leveson wants the press governed by a new self-regulatory body, underpinned by legislation, containing no serving editors or politicians.

But he says incidents in which the press have corrupted politicians or police are exceptions to the rule, and that the norm is a “robust” (he said that word a lot) relationship.

He said: “The lawbreaking in this area is typically hidden, with the victims unaware of what has happened… I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest that corruption by the press is a widespread problem in relation to the police; however, I have identified issues to be addressed.”

On the relationship between press and politicians, he recommended steps to create greater transparency “so there is no risk of even the perception of bias”.

He said: “In a number of respects, the relationship between politicians and the press has been too close, conducted out of the public eye, between policymakers and those who stand to benefit.

“The power of the press to affect political fortunes may be used to affect policy. That undermines the belief in policy decisions being made genuinely in the public interest.”

I suppose you could say he did criticise the government with this line: “The press is entitled to lobby in its own interests, but it is the responsibility of the politicians to ensure their decisions are in the public interest. Their dealings with the press should be open and transparent and the public should have understanding of the process.”

That certainly hasn’t happened with regard to the relationships between David Cameron and either Andy Coulson or Rebekah Brooks, or the relationships of both Mr Cameron and George Osborne with the Murdochs, or indeed that of former culture secretary Jeremy Hunt with News Corporation/News International!

I don’t think his proposals will work. I think the transgressors will keep on doing what they have been doing, and the politicians will continue to pander to them because they influence the popular vote.

I would like to have seen Leveson criticise a situation that has seen powerful newspaper magnates worm their way into the retinues of ministers and even the Prime Minister; and especially welcome would be a request for an explanation, from the PM, of his over-close relationship with the former chief executive of News International, Rebekah Brooks, who is even now awaiting trial for alleged criminal acts.

I would also like to see Leveson demand disclosure of the emails and texts that Mr Cameron did not provide to the inquiry or otherwise make public. What does he have to hide? Also, since the Prime Minister should be above reproach, should we conclude that his continued opacity in this regard is an admission that he is culpable of something, and therefore should we not demand his removal from office?

Instead, Leveson seems to have drawn a line under what happened. It is future relationships that he wants to safeguard. For those involved in the phone hacking scandals and the relationship between the Murdoch organisation and the Conservative Party, this means there will always be doubt in the public mind. Mr Cameron has lost public trust over this.

I would like to have seen Leveson question the way newspaper reporters have managed to get inside information from police forces across the country, because this raises serious issues about the corruptibility of our boys in blue. It takes two people to hand over confidential information – the one who’s asking for it and the one who provides it.

Perhaps that will follow but I doubt it. Despite Lord Justice Leveson’s beliefs, it seems this affair has damaged public perception of the police – as a whole – as well.

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3 Comments

  1. redjediknight November 29, 2012 at 6:27 pm - Reply

    While a Prime Minister can pick the judge of an inquiry he’s assured of the right outcome. Tony Blair with the Hutton whitewash.
    Dave can’t afford to.upset his friends as he’s fat running out of them.
    Allowing the state to regulate the press would have the Murdoch press turn on him and guarantee Boris or Pob Gove a free pass to.the Tory leadership.
    Only the public can make statutory measures a reality.

  2. Thomas G Clark November 29, 2012 at 6:36 pm - Reply

    I didn’t see the speech but what you write about future relationships sounds sickeningly familiar. You know, the Fundamenatally Supine Authority claiming that they plan to bring in legislation to safeguard against repeats of the PPI and Libor scandals, with the implication that the huge PPI and Libor frauds weren’t illegal, when they absolutely were.

    It wasn’t a case of lack of regulation, it was a case of the regualtors turning a blind eye to the corruption, then attempting to create the post-hoc justification for their inaction with the absolute fiction that they were powerless to intervene.

    The idea that the Tories would bring in robust and coherent regulation of anything, the financial sector, the utilities companies, the tax system, the maistream media is absolute fantasy. They hate regulation because it reduces the opportunities for “market making”, or as common people like us call it, “corruption”.

  3. Robert Maguire November 29, 2012 at 6:48 pm - Reply

    Reminds me of the old U.S.S.R. Westminster has perfected the abuse of the system and has has cleverly introduced legislation to protect it’s Tory/ Labour cabal. No change here then, Blair, Cameron and their band of thieves are as pure as the driven snow. I will vote for Independence, but Salmond beware, we’re watching you and Holyrood. Open honest government is needed in Scotland, we have been lied to too often by Westminster, we want real change, we wont settle for anything less. I look forward to a Scandinavian/ Celtic partnership. Cameron, we never voted for you, resign.

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