Public Confidence in the Media and Police

Andrew Selous Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I do not have that information; I will have to get back to the hon. Gentleman. [Interruption.] Far worse would be to give an answer that could turn out to be inaccurate, so I will get back to him with that information.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

Government Members are right to say that all our constituents want us to move on from excessive focus on this issue. However, how does the Prime Minister see us being able to end the practice of journalists regularly paying police officers for a quick scoop?

[The Prime Minister]

I think we need to do a number of things. Obviously, there is a police investigation into corruption, which will now be overseen by someone who comes from outside the Met, and there is also Dame Elizabeth Filkin’s work to try to improve ethics and standards. In addition, the inquiry will be able to do a job of work on this. On the panel is a former chief constable, so there will be understanding of how the police service works, so that we can get to the bottom of that problem and deal with it.