Deputy Prime Minister at the time of the Inquiry and until 2015. Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam from 2005 to 2017. Appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for Political and Public Service. Told the Inquiry he believed a strong, free press was the lifeblood of a democracy but that revelations about News of the World phone-hacking had led to widespread revulsion. He gave evidence on the importance of the press in holding politicians to account and raising issues that politicians would rather not see aired.
Conservative MP for Surrey Heath and Education Secretary at the time of the Inquiry. A former journalist at the Aberdeen Press and Journal, the Times, the BBC and the Spectator. Told the Inquiry that sometimes "individuals reach for regulation in order to deal with failures of character or morality, and sometimes that regulation is right and appropriate but some of us believe that before the case for regulation is made, the case for liberty needs to be asserted as well".
Political Editor of the Financial Times since 2007. Parker won acclaim for his coverage of the financial crisis and the political drama leading up to the formation of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government.
