Leveson Inquiry

Lord Grocott Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I understand my noble friend’s position, particularly given that he chairs the Communications Committee. However, we have debated the cross-party charter and the Leveson report on many occasions, and I have been delighted to answer—or seek to answer—questions on them. I sense that the public are seeking some conclusion to this and that is why the cross-party charter is going before the Privy Council on 30 October. It is about trying to get some resolution so that we can move forward and set the structure in place.

[Lord Grocott (Lab)]

Does the Minister detect something that I have not yet detected? The Leveson inquiry came about in the first place as a result of the most appalling treatment by the print media of individual innocent members of the public. It was that outrage that led to the inquiry. In the kind of almost academic exchanges that are going on, I get no sense at all that the leaders of the print industry share or understand that outrage. Can the Minister simply report to the House and reassure me that the Government feel the same sense of outrage that the overwhelming majority of the British people feel?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

I sense from our exchanges in your Lordships’ House that there is a very strong feeling here which reflects what the nation feels. This is why the Prime Minister was absolutely right to start on the path of asking Lord Justice Leveson to look into these matters, because they should not have happened and responsible people could not possibly justify them. I say to those who are very senior in the press: I see no demons in what is proposed by the cross-party charter. This is about trying to have two very important things in our nation’s life: a responsible free press that can scrutinise and look at all that we and our institutions do, but will also safeguard the rights of the citizen.