At time of the Inquiry, Lord Black (Guy Black) was Chairman of Press Standards Board of Finance Limited and Director of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC). He had been responsible for tightening the PCC's Code of Practice in the wake of the death in 1997 of Princess Diana. The Lord Black proposals frequently referred to throughout the Inquiry were his proposals for a new system of independent press self-regulation and were put forward on behalf of the newspaper industry.
A police officer for 34 years, Ian Blair served as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, head of London's Metropolitan Police Service. He testified regarding his personal relationship with the media and as head of the police force. He gave detailed evidence of how relations between the media and police were conducted. Resigned in 2008 and became a peer in 2010. Lord Blair noted that the culture prevailing during his time as Commissioner was very different from the culture at the time of the Inquiry.
Peter Brooke served in the Cabinet under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and was the Member of Parliament representing the Cities of London and Westminster from 1977 to 2001. Gave evidence on his period as Heritage Secretary (1992-1995) during which time the Calcutt Committee recommendations on self-regulation of the press and Clive Soley's bill on press ownership were being discussed.
Baroness Buscombe is an English barrister and politician and a Conservative member of the House of Lords. She was Chief Executive of the Advertising Association from 2007 to 2009 and served as Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission from 2009 to 2011. At the time of giving evidence she was still Chairman but her successor had been appointed. Buscombe spoke of inadequate political support for the PCC and lack of support from the industry. She also believed that the issue of rights and privileges of journalists required careful analysis.
Paul Condon joined the police in 1967, becoming Chief Constable of Kent in 1988 and Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 1993, aged 45, the youngest person to do so at that time, before stepping down in 2000. Answered questions at the Inquiry on his corruption strategy during his time at the Met.
Michael Grade was chairman of the BBC from 2004 to 2006, and executive chairman of ITV plc from 2007 to 2009. In 2011, he was made a Conservative Party life peer in the House of Lords and in same year was appointed to the PCC. Gave evidence expressing opposition to statutory regulation, believing that the PCC worked well in some respects.
Professor of the Psychiatry of Learning Disability at St George's, University of London, and crossbench life peer in the House of Lords in 2010. President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 2005 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2013 President of the British Medical Association. Hollins gave evidence of “unacceptable press behaviour” and the intrusion her family experienced in 2005 after her daughter was stabbed and left paralysed. She gave evidence later in 2012 complaining that fabricated stories about her son had appeared in the Daily Mail.
David Hunt, Conservative politician and former member of Cabinet during the Margaret Thatcher and John Major administrations, was appointed chairman of Press Complaints Commission as the Leveson Inquiry was getting underway (replacing Baroness Buscombe). He said he hoped to lead "wholesale regeneration and renewal of the system of independent self-regulation of the press".
Member of Parliament from 1992 to 2015, holding major ministerial positions including (from 2001 to 2007) as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Designated a Core Participant Victim at the Inquiry, she gave extensive evidence, based on her experience both as Secretary of State responsible for media and as a victim of phone-hacking. In her evidence, she accused the press of "total invasion" of her privacy. Jowell accepted £200,000 in damages from the News of the World (£100,000 of which went to a charity), after the police informed her that her phone had been comprehensively hacked. Raised to the peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours, Baroness Jowell died from cancer in May 2018.
Ken MacDonald was a former Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales and head of the Crown Prosecution Service. He was previously a Recorder (part-time judge) and defence barrister. A Liberal Democrat life peer, he gave evidence on the early Metropolitan Police investigation into phone-hacking.
Peter Mandelson was Labour MP for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004. Held a number of Cabinet positions under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and was European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008. He denied there had been a "Faustian pact" between Labour and Rupert Murdoch but was of the view that relations between both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown with News International were "closer than were wise".
Director of Full Fact, an independent fact-checking organisation campaigning against inaccuracy in the media, at the time of giving evidence. Moy told the Inquiry that the phone-hacking scandal had undoubtedly harmed public trust in the press and that we all needed to ask why journalists were the people least trusted to "tell the truth". Full Fact is a registered charity.
Gus O'Donnell, former senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 (under three Prime Ministers) served as Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the British Civil Service. Gave evidence concerning Andy Coulson's role as press chief to Prime Minister David Cameron, and offered his opinion that Coulson should have declared his News Corporation shares.
Philosopher and crossbench member of the House of Lords. Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and, among many other senior roles, former President of the British Academy (2005-2009). She was founding President of the British Philosophical Association (BPA) and until 2006 Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, and chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Gave written evidence to the Inquiry on press freedom and human rights in an international setting. Has published extensively on concepts of media freedom.
British politician and retired police officer, currently sitting in the House of Lords as a life peer. Until his retirement in May 2007, Paddick was Deputy Assistant Commissioner in London's Metropolitan Police Service. He gave evidence to the Inquiry of a Metropolitan Police cover-up of systemic phone hacking by sections of the tabloid press. Paddick was a Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral elections of 2008 and 2012.
Chris Patten was a crossbench member of the House of Lords and a former governor of Hong Kong (1992-1997). Chairman of the BBC Trust at the time of giving evidence, he said regulation of the kind in place for broadcasting would not be appropriate for print journalism. Welcomed ideas such as Cabinet members being obliged to publish details of meetings with journalists.
John Prescott is a former Deputy Prime Minister (1997-2007) who represented Hull East as Labour MP from 1970 to 2010. Submitted "A New Regulatory Framework", a paper on the press drawn up by a Prescott-led working group, to the Inquiry.
A former Labour MP for Motherwell (1987-2010), John Reid held a number of Cabinet positions under Tony Blair including Health Secretary, Defence Secretary and Home Secretary. He retired from frontline politics in 2007 following Gordon Brown's appointment as Prime Minister. Gave evidence on the immediate aftermath of the arrests of Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman, for which, he said, he received briefing papers only the day after.
British viscount and inheritor of the media empire founded by his great-grandfather Harold Sidney Harmsworth. Chairman of DMG Media, owner of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Evidence submitted included lists of high-ranking politicians and business people who had been dinner guests and his communications with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, welcoming his views on local television and looking forward to discussions on the BBC. Lord Rothermere also told the Inquiry that at a meeting at Chequers he had felt it would have been "rude" to discuss Rupert Murdoch's bid for BskyB, extensively debated at that time, with the Prime Minister.
A former MP, Cabinet Minister and chairman of the Environment Agency, Chris Smith was Culture Secretary from 1997 to 2001. He gave evidence of his hope for strengthened self-regulation and also on the change of public perception towards the media in the wake of the death of Princess Diana and his belief then in the need to consider specific action against the paparazzi.
