Public Confidence in the Media and Police Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateRobert Buckland
Main Page: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)Department Debates - View all Robert Buckland's debates with the Cabinet Office
(13 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberHe was vetted. He had a basic level of vetting. He was not able to see the most secret documents in the Government. I can write to the hon. Lady if she wants the full details of that vetting. It was all done in the proper way. He was subject to the special advisers’ code of conduct. As someone shouted from behind me, he obeyed that code, unlike Damian McBride.
There has been much talk of freedom, but freedom has to be under the law. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that any future regulation of the press will balance the interests of ordinary men and women against the legitimate interest in maintaining a free press in this country?
Of course I give that assurance. One of the things with which the committee of inquiry will have to battle is that, if you consider some of the great investigative stories that have bust open scandals in the past, sometimes there has been a public interest defence. My hon. Friend is a lawyer and he will know about that. That is one of the reasons why we are asking the committee of inquiry to try to do that very difficult work.