Political Editor of the Mail on Sunday at time of giving evidence. A Lobby member since 1983, Walters previously worked at The Sun and Sunday Express. In 2013, he was Political Journalist of the Year, the third time he had been given the accolade. One of the stories commended was his revelation that Lord Leveson had "threatened to quit" over criticism from a Cabinet Minister. Another concerned text messages between David Cameron and former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks revealing that the Government would resist calls arising from the Leveson Inquiry for tougher press legislation.
At the time of the Inquiry, editor of The Times website and previously Political Editor of The Times. Webster was responsible for many scoops over the years from John Major's affair with Edwina Currie to the interview with Tony Blair on 31 August 2006 that ultimately led him to stand down. He told the Inquiry that he welcomed the death of deference to politicians but was less happy with the lack of respect. He gave the example of Gordon Brown being asked if he was on anti-depressants – for which, he said, there was no evidence at all.
Born 1953. English Labour Party politician and former MP for The Wrekin between 1997–2005. He is a co-founder and director of the Speakers' Corner Trust, a registered charity promoting free expression, public debate and active citizenship as a means of revitalising civil society in the UK as well as in Berlin, Prague and Nigeria.
Professor of Political Communication at Goldsmiths, University of London. In looking at the practices of journalism in relation to political issues and democratic practices, Davis told the Inquiry that he had conducted research at Westminster, Whitehall, the London Stock Exchange, across business and financial networks, among major political parties and across the trade union movement as part of his research for the Coordinating Committee for Media Reform.
Councillor in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets since 2006 and leader of the opposition Conservative Group on the council since 2007. Previously Golds served as a councillor in the London Borough of Brent between 1990-1998.
Was founded in 1944 to promote parliamentary democracy. Its work encompasses a wide range of areas, from citizenship education to the role of Parliament, and the impact of new media on politics. In addition, the Society programmes events in Westminster with high-profile speakers plus seminars and fringe events at party conferences.
Clive Hollick, a former owner of Express Newspapers and a supporter of the Labour Party, was made a life peer in 1991. He told the Inquiry that he believed self-regulation of the Press should be abandoned. The historic pattern of promising and failing to reform had been repeated too often with sometimes tragic results, he said.
Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the time of the Inquiry and visiting Cambridge University as a Senior Research Associate. Has published widely on Kant's philosophy and on moral, political and feminist philosophy. Well-known for her work on pornography and objectification. Offered her views on "Speech acts" and a free press.
British conservative politician and former British Army officer. Since May 2016, he has served as the Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner.
Writer and broadcaster and at time of Inquiry a regular columnist for the Times; formerly a Conservative Member of Parliament. He had no knowledge of "phone-hacking", he said, but believed that all such activities and espionage should be seen in the context of press subterfuge over the past century.
Business editor of the BBC at time of giving evidence. Told the Inquiry that he set himself high standards of ethical journalism. He would always multi-source a story and he had never disclosed the identity of a source, he said. The primary responsibility for ensuring decent journalistic practice lay with the managements of media organisations, he thought. Peston also founded the education charity Speakers for Schools in 2011. He left the BBC in 2015 to become Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston on Sunday.
Executive Editor of Politics at The Huffington Post UK. A former Deputy Political Editor of both the Independent and the London Evening Standard, Waugh has worked in the House of Commons for 18 years and gave evidence to the Inquiry as Chairman of the Parliamentary Lobby Journalists.
Political blog founded 2004 by Paul Staines and described by The Daily Telegraph as "one of Britain's leading political blogsites" in 2007. In November 2011, Guido Fawkes posted the as-yet-undelivered evidence to the Leveson Inquiry of Alastair Campbell. The Inquiry asked him to appear and explain. The order to appear was dropped but Staines appeared and gave evidence.
Formed 2003. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales. It was asked to report into corruption between police officers and journalists. The report was published in 2012 and the IPCC was replaced in 2018 by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Jane Furniss, IPCC chief executive at the time of the Inquiry, gave evidence of improper disclosure of information but believed there was a misconception about the extent of corruption by the media.
First published as broadsheet in 1891, before moving to compact format in 2005. Broadly Irish nationalist in outlook and focuses primarily on Ulster content, though it is also available throughout Ireland. Noel Doran, editor at the time, told the Inquiry that the paper had never been found in breach of the PCC code, and had never in his time published material from paid sources.
Political journalists in the UK Houses of Parliament with special access to Members' Lobby. Paul Waugh, Chairman of the Lobby at the time of giving evidence, clarified how the Lobby worked, correcting what he thought to be misleading references to it in oral evidence from David Cameron and Gordon Brown.
