Press Release

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

20 May 2009 TOM WATSON MP Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail, apologised today to Tom Watson MP in a Statement in Open Court Solicitors read before Mr Justice Eady. International Press Centre 76 Shoe Lane London EC4A 3JB Mr Watson complained of an article by Iain Dale, headed “Smears, glowering Tel 020 7353 5005 henchmen-like the Nixon White House” published in the Mail on Sunday on 12 Fax 020 7353 5553 April 2009 in which it was stated not only that Mr Watson was copied into emails DX 333 Chancery Lane sent by Downing Street press adviser Damian McBride to Derek Draper, but that Email [email protected] he “encouraged” them. The emails were reported to have made serious and Web site www.carter-ruck.com false allegations about the private lives of a number of Conservative Party MPs in the course of discussing proposals for a new website to be known as “Red Rag”. As the Court heard today, Associated Newspapers Limited now accepts that these allegations are entirely untrue. In fact, Mr Watson was not copied into any of the emails exchanged between Mr McBride and Mr Draper. As Mr Watson has already publicly made clear, he had no involvement in or knowledge of the “Red PRESS RELEASE Rag” website and he did not condone the content of the emails and, indeed, regarded them as completely inappropriate. Associated Newspapers Limited has unreservedly withdrawn the allegations, apologised to Mr Watson for the distress the article caused him and his family and has joined in the reading of the Statement in Open Court today. In addition, Associated Newspapers Limited has agreed to pay Mr Watson substantial damages, together with his legal costs. For further information, please contact: Claire Gill ([email protected] ): Tel: +44 (0)207 353 5005 PCR1-370435.2 .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

'Opposition-Craft': an Evaluative Framework for Official Opposition Parties in the United Kingdom Edward Henry Lack Submitte
‘Opposition-Craft’: An Evaluative Framework for Official Opposition Parties in the United Kingdom Edward Henry Lack Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of PhD The University of Leeds, School of Politics and International Studies May, 2020 1 Intellectual Property and Publications Statements The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. ©2020 The University of Leeds and Edward Henry Lack The right of Edward Henry Lack to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 2 Acknowledgements Page I would like to thank Dr Victoria Honeyman and Dr Timothy Heppell of the School of Politics and International Studies, The University of Leeds, for their support and guidance in the production of this work. I would also like to thank my partner, Dr Ben Ramm and my parents, David and Linden Lack, for their encouragement and belief in my efforts to undertake this project. Finally, I would like to acknowledge those who took part in the research for this PhD thesis: Lord David Steel, Lord David Owen, Lord Chris Smith, Lord Andrew Adonis, Lord David Blunkett and Dame Caroline Spelman. 3 Abstract This thesis offers a distinctive and innovative framework for the study of effective official opposition politics in the United Kingdom.
[Show full text]
Views About the Adequacy of the Stipend to Attract Church of This House of Commons and Often Conducts Priests, Especially in Rural Parishes
Thursday Volume 497 15 October 2009 No. 124 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 15 October 2009 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2009 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ Enquiries to the Office of Public Sector Information, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected] 419 15 OCTOBER 2009 420 open for such use as Parliament required. In the usual House of Commons fashion, however, it did not allow for funding from Parliament. We hope that Members will contribute Thursday 15 October 2009 generously to the appeal, and I repeat that they should visit the church as often as they can. I will certainly refer the hon. Gentleman’s question to The House met at half-past Ten o’clock the Church Commissioners. PRAYERS David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire) (Lab/Co-op): One of the most heavily used paved areas in this crowded and busy city must be the footpath between St. Margaret’s [MR.SPEAKER in the Chair] and the abbey, and the slabbed area in front of the church. Is it right that the church is having to fund the BUSINESS BEFORE QUESTIONS restoration of those cracked and uneven areas? Should that not be either for Westminster city council or for the CANTERBURY CITY COUNCIL BILL (BY ORDER) national taxpayer? If that is part of the scheme, it is unfair. Motion made, That the Bill be now considered.
[Show full text]
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
Thursday Volume 501 19 November 2009 No. 2 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 19 November 2009 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2009 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ Enquiries to the Office of Public Sector Information, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected] 127 19 NOVEMBER 2009 Business of the House 128 we at business questions are the flint she sparks off, we House of Commons share in her reflected glory. May we assume that she is now a subscriber to that publication? Thursday 19 November 2009 May we have a statement on the prospects for the Bills in the Queen’s Speech? On Monday, the right hon. and learned Lady claimed that the majority of the Bills The House met at half-past Ten o’clock in the Queen’s Speech would become law before the next election. We have an absolute maximum of 70 sitting PRAYERS days before Dissolution, and we need to set aside time for debates on the pre-Budget report, as well as ensuring that we have time to discuss other issues, such as [MR.SPEAKER in the Chair] Afghanistan. Given all that, does the right hon. and learned Lady still stand by her original claim, or will Business of the House she admit that there may be difficulties in fulfilling the Government’s commitments? Given the limited time we 10.33 am have left, recess dates have an added significance, so is the right hon.
[Show full text]
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
Wednesday Volume 494 24 June 2009 No. 98 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Wednesday 24 June 2009 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2009 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ Enquiries to the Office of Public Sector Information, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; Tel: 0044 (0) 208876344; e-mail: [email protected] 777 24 JUNE 2009 778 rightly made the case. I hope she will understand when I House of Commons point her to the work of the World Bank and other international financial institutions on infrastructure in Wednesday 24 June 2009 Ukraine and other countries. We will continue to watch the regional economic needs of Ukraine through our involvement with those institutions. The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock Mr. Gary Streeter (South-West Devon) (Con): Given PRAYERS the strategic significance of Ukraine as a political buffer zone between the EU and Russia, does the Minister not think that it was perhaps an error of judgment to close [MR.SPEAKER in the Chair] the DFID programme in Ukraine last year? It would be an utter tragedy if Ukraine’s democracy should fail, so BUSINESS BEFORE QUESTIONS should we not at the very least be running significant capacity-building programmes to support it? SPOLIATION ADVISORY PANEL Resolved, Mr. Thomas: We are running capacity-building programmes on democracy and good governance through That an Humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, That she will be graciously pleased to give directions that there be laid the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
[Show full text]
Behind the Digital Campaign
BEHIND THE DIGITAL CAMPAIGN An exploration of the use, impact and regulation of digital campaigning Andy Williamson, Laura Miller & Freddy Fallon Acknowledgements Authors: Dr Andy Williamson, Dr Laura Miller & Freddy Fallon The Hansard Society would like to thank all the interviewees for their contribution and their time. Thanks also go to Beccy Allen, Karishma Desai, Jonathan Goodstone, Tuga Alaskary, Daniel Baldwin, Nicholas Phillips and Virginia Gibbons for their assistance and support. Hansard Society, 40-43 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1JA Tel: 020 7438 1222. Fax: 020 7438 1229. Email: [email protected] Copyright © 2010 Hansard Society. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, without the prior permission of the Hansard Society. For more information about other Hansard Society publications visit our website at www.hansardsociety.org.uk Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................iii Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 1 Methods and Approaches...................................................................................................... 2 The Mediation of Political Life...................................................................................................... 4 A General History of Internet Campaigning .........................................................................
[Show full text]
Insideout in Defence of Special Advisers: Lessons from Personal Experience
In Defence of Special Advisers: Lessons from Personal Experience Nick Hillman INSIDE InsideOUT A series of personal perspectives on government eectiveness 9 This essay is dedicated to my children, Ben and Amity, who were born while I was a special adviser. I promise to repay the bedtime stories I missed. 2 InsideOUT InsideOUT In Defence of Special Advisers: Lessons from Personal Experience Nick Hillman InsideOUT 3 TRANSFORMATION IN THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE 2010 interim evaluation report Foreword Nick Hillman’s InsideOUT provides the most valuable recent insight into the work of that most misunderstood Whitehall species – the special adviser. The value lies, first, in being up-to-date when much of the discussion of special advisers goes back to the scandals and battles of the Blair/Brown years; and, second, in being written from the perspective of a department rather than the centre. That is crucial in understanding how advisers operate, particularly in the age of coalition, and how they contribute to the work of their ministers, as opposed to the Prime Minister. You would expect that someone who worked for David Willetts to operate in a less highly charged world than in some of the familiar stab-and-tell accounts of ex-advisers. That is an advantage and allows Hillman to concentrate on the key issues, not just, persuasively, in defence of spads but also in suggesting how the system can be improved. Without repeating all his arguments, I would like to discuss one issue which he highlights – the lack of proper preparation and training. Working in Parliament as chief of staff to a member of the Shadow Cabinet, as Hillman did, can, as he says, feel more like a micro-business than part of a great ship of state.
[Show full text]
Revolving Doors Special by Richard Brooks and Solomon Hughes
REVOLVING00 DOORS SPECIAL REPORT 1 PUBLIC SERVANTS, PRIVATE PAYDAYS How ministers and mandarins make life after government pay – a Revolving Doors Special by Richard Brooks and Solomon Hughes Post-Brexit, it’s all change at the top. A bunch of ministers are out of a job and advisers and top officials might find it’s time to move on, too. But fret not. A well-trodden path from the public to private sector ensures ministers and mandarins looking to profit from their time in government are all but guaranteed a job in business, usually in an area over which they have exerted great influence. Today’s public servants have joined an undeclared public-private partnership with their future employers if, that is, they serve their future paymasters well. This is the story of Britain’s well-oiled Revolving Door, and the price we all pay for it… ETIREMENT jobs for those at the top of Rpublic life aren’t all new. Whitehall’s Sir Humphreys have long walked into Great British boardrooms soon after picking up their retirement carriage clocks. The corporate heavyweights had to be kept plugged into the establishment, after all. But for the politicians who, constitutionally at least, made the decisions affecting public life, taking the business shilling after a life in office was seen as below the salt. A life in government meant a This trend became a central feature in the that he was “a pretty straight kinda guy”. life in public service, and it wasn’t to be sullied atmosphere of sleaze surrounding the It was a while before serious political sleaze by cashing in at the end of it.
[Show full text]
House of Lords Official Report
Vol. 711 Monday No. 85 8 June 2009 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDER OF BUSINESS Questions Export Credits Guarantee Department Civil Service: Damian McBride House of Lords: Co-operation with European Parliament Education: Creative Partnerships Bank of England (Amendment) Bill [HL] Order of commitment discharged Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL] Third Reading Criminal Justice: Sonnex Case Statement Business Rate Supplements Bill Report Grand Committee Healthcare: EUC Report Medicines for Human Use (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2009 Medicines for Human Use (Prescribing) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2009 National Health Service (Charges) (Amendments Relating to Pandemic Influenza) Regulations 2009 Debated Written Statements Written Answers For column numbers see back page £3·50 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. The bound volumes also will be sent to those Peers who similarly notify their wish to receive them. No proofs of Daily Reports are provided. Corrections for the bound volume which Lords wish to suggest to the report of their speeches should be clearly indicated in a copy of the Daily Report, which, with the column numbers concerned shown on the front cover, should be sent to the Editor of Debates, House of Lords, within 14 days of the date of the Daily Report. This issue of the Official Report is also available on the Internet at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/index/090608.html PRICES AND SUBSCRIPTION RATES DAILY PARTS Single copies: Commons, £5; Lords £3·50 Annual subscriptions: Commons, £865; Lords £525 WEEKLY HANSARD Single copies: Commons, £12; Lords £6 Annual subscriptions: Commons, £440; Lords £255 Index—Single copies: Commons, £6·80—published every three weeks Annual subscriptions: Commons, £125; Lords, £65.
[Show full text]
Government Special Advisers As Media Players: to What Extent Do
Work in progress. Not to be circulated without author’s permission. Government special advisers as media players: to what extent do they contribute to the ideal of good government and the informed citizen? Ruth Garland, PhD Researcher, London School of Economics Abstract The number of special advisers doubled within two years of the 1997 election, and has continued to rise, but despite their obvious utility, they are probably the least understood and most demonised of political actors and have been subjected to repeated criticism in numerous government and parliamentary reviews ((Fourth Report: Special advisers - boon or bane?, 2000; Hillman, 2014; Public Administration Select Committee, 2012; Hillman, 2014; Wright, 2002; Yong & Hazell, 2014). In this paper I use data from 26 in-depth interviews with former government press officers, journalists and special advisers, together with contemporary and archival documentary analysis, to examine how the rise of the special adviser, especially in media-related roles, has impacted on the public purposes of government communications. The Whitehall model traditionally enshrines the ideal of a ‘neutral serving elite’ (Tashir, 2015: 280) as guardians of good government and yet, as Du Gay has stated, one interpretation of “enhanced democratic rule” holds that “bureaucracies should be more responsive to the wishes of their political masters and to the people they serve” (Du Gay, 2005:51). The rise of the special adviser has been described as one obvious manifestation of responsiveness (Greer, 2008) p132), but to whom and in whose interests? Introduction “Those special advisers whose role focuses on communications, facilitating contacts with the media and the wider political sphere, are of less obvious benefit to anyone other than the ministers who appoint them and the political parties they represent.” (Committee on Standards in Public Life, 2012).
[Show full text]
PDF (Illustrative Case Studies)
Case studies illustrating the usefulness of the quality monitoring framework set out in chapter one of The Future of Quality News Journalism: a cross-continental analysis The material that is produced below is still under development and may be modified when the final draft is produced shortly. a) Introduction This set of case studies has two main purposes. First, to provide examples of how the quality monitoring framework outlined in chapter one might be applied to online news stories of quality mainstream news providers. Second, to provide some representative sample evidence of the quality of the hard news provision of some of the best of the mainstream news providers. This is intended to back up the case for their continuing importance that is made within the bonus chapter (available only online at: HTTP://CLOK.UCLAN.AC.UK/7824) There are several things that it is important to emphasise. First, as chapter one makes clear, the preferred means of quality assessment would be via the kind of expert/professional panels outlined and suggested there. This should enhance the rigour of the evaluative process in so far as several pairs of expert eyes are likely to pick up inconsistencies in the application of that process in a way that would not be possible for one. Given that such panels do not yet exist to apply it and that the purpose here is mainly illustrative, the evaluations have been made by the author alone. That means that they should be treated with greater caution than had they been panel produced, but providing that is remembered it does not detract from their illustrative value.
[Show full text]
Highlights London Book Fair 2018 Highlights
Highlights London Book Fair 2018 Highlights Welcome to our 2018 International Book Rights Highlights For more information please go to our website to browse our shelves and find out more about what we do and who we represent. Contents Gregory & Company titles Crime, Suspense, Thriller 1-15 Contemporary Fiction 16 Historical Fiction 17 Romantic Fiction 18 DHA Fiction Literary/Upmarket Fiction 20-28 Crime, Suspense, Thriller 29-33 Commercial Fiction 34-37 DHA Non-Fiction Business & Lifestyle 38-39 History, Philosophy, Politics 40-45 Nature & Travel 46-49 Centenary Celebrations 50 Upcoming Publications 51-52 Film & TV News 53-54 DHA Sub-agents 55 Agents US Rights: Veronique Baxter; Georgia Glover; Anthony Goff (AG); Andrew Gordon (AMG); Jane Gregory; Lizzy Kremer; Harriet Moore; Caroline Walsh Film & TV Rights: Clare Israel; Nicky Lund; Penelope Killick; Georgina Ruffhead Translation Rights: Alice Howe: [email protected] Direct: France; Germany; Netherlands Subagented: Italy Claire Morris: [email protected] Gregory & Company list, all territories Direct: Germany; Greece; Netherlands; Portugal; Scandinavia; Spain; Vietnam plus miscellaneous requests Subagented: Brazil; China; Croatia; Czech Republic; France; Hungary; Israel; Japan; Korea; Poland; Romania; Russia; Serbia; Slovenia; Taiwan; Thailand; Turkey Emily Randle: [email protected] Direct: Afrikaans; all Indian languages; Brazil; Portugal; Vietnam; Wales; plus miscellaneous requests Subagented: China; Bulgaria; Hungary, Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Russia, Serbia; Taiwan; Thailand; Ukraine Giulia Bernabè: [email protected] Direct: Arabic; Croatia; Estonia; Greece; Israel; Latvia; Lithuania; Scandinavia; Slovenia; Spain and Spanish in Latin America; Sub-agented: Czech Republic; Poland; Romania; Slovakia; Turkey Contact t: +44 (0)20 7434 5900 f: +44 (0)20 7437 1072 www.davidhigham.co.uk Gregory & Company Titles Snap Belinda Bauer Snap decisions can be fatal .
[Show full text]
Privacy, Probity and Public Interest Whittle and Cooper Cover Image © Reuters © Image Cover , –7 the Independent
Whittle and Cooper cover C:Layout 1 01/07/2009 15:43 Page 1 RISJ REUTERS REUTERS CHALLENGES INSTITUTE for the STUDY of INSTITUTE for the JOURNALISM CHALLENGES STUDY of JOURNALISM | Privacy, probity and public interest probity Privacy, “'Privacy, Probity and Public Interest' shows how privacy has come Privacy, probity and to be both better protected by the courts and more widely ignored: big questions, riveting examples and sharp analysis.” Baroness Onora O'Neill, President of the British Academy and public interest Professor of Philosophy, Cambridge University “is report is from the frontline. Although it contains an admirable survey of the law and the stance of the regulators, it does much more. It gives interested parties a voice. e authors provide their own thoughtful commentary; they do not shirk the diﬃcult questions. Stephen Whittle and Glenda Cooper Everyone should be interested in this debate, and I wholeheartedly commend this report to anyone who is.” Andrew Caldecott, QC, Specialist in Media Law “An erudite and compelling exposition of one of the most important ethical dilemmas facing British Journalism in the internet era. e authors identify a route towards a new journalism that can respect privacy without compromising its democratic obligation to hold power to account.” Tim Luckhurst Professor of Journalism, University of Kent Stephen Whittle is a journalist and was the BBC's Controller of Editorial Policy (2001–2006). As Controller, he was involved in some of the most high profile BBC investigations such as The Secret Policeman, Licence To Kill, and Panoramas on the Olympics and care of the elderly.
[Show full text]