Public Confidence in the Media and Police

Nadhim Zahawi Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

One of the outcomes of all of this is that there will be a lot more of leaving everybody alone.

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

In the Operation Motorman investigation, the Information Commissioner found 861 personal information transactions that were positively identified as coming from 89 Mirror Group newspaper journalists. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the inquiry that he has announced will be able to look into the unlawful practices going on at Mirror Group newspapers?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point: while we should not believe automatically that those practices were spread right across the media, it would be naive to think that they were restricted to one newspaper or one newspaper group. Indeed, when we look at evidence such as Motorman and the Information Commissioner’s report, it is clear that they went wider, and this inquiry and the police investigation must go where the evidence leads. All of us have to ask questions about people we employ if they were involved in those newspapers.