Leveson Inquiry

Lord Inglewood Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

Once again, the noble Lord is fielding reports from the media that have not necessarily been substantiated, and it would be wise to wait to see which of them are true. All I can say on the question of Adam Smith’s role is to refer to his letter of resignation in which he states that,

“the content and extent of my contact was done without authorisation from the Secretary of State”.

[Lord Inglewood]

Does my noble friend agree, first of all, that the allegations made about the Secretary of State are extremely serious; and, secondly, that the Secretary of State’s Statement in the House of Commons was an explanation of what occurred but what we need to see is the evidence on which the explanation was based so that Parliament and the public can make up their mind about the events that have occurred?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

Yes, my Lords, what my noble friend says is probably right.