Phone Hacking and the Media

Stephen Hammond Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

The right hon. Gentleman will understand that that question is slightly above my legal pay grade. It is not for the Government to take a view on that matter, but for the courts. If the courts take a view that is not consistent with what we want to see, we are at liberty, as a Parliament, to change the law to ensure that the courts interpret it in the way that we want.

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

The previous Administration ignored reports from the Information Commissioner about 300 journalists across the national media being involved in illicit practices to gain information. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the inquiry he is setting up today will look across the national media and consider wider issues than just phone hacking?

[Mr Hunt]

Absolutely; we need to look at the kind of problems we may face in the information age, which might be very different from the tragic problems that were reported last week. We will look at all those issues. We recognise that our press has some of the finest traditions in the world, but has fallen sadly short of them. We want to do everything possible to ensure that we go back to having the finest journalism in the world.