:00:12. > :00:17.Time for a review of the Leveson Inquiry.
:00:17. > :00:22.An implication was clear. News International turn against
:00:22. > :00:30.coalition. That is the high watermark of the arrogance of power
:00:30. > :00:34.without was there the ability. -- without responsibility. Lord
:00:34. > :00:39.Justice Leveson returned after a week in which his inquiry did not
:00:39. > :00:45.sit but which still saw him making headlines. When he got back to
:00:45. > :00:55.business, he had plenty to say about that article. As the inquiry
:00:55. > :00:56.
:00:56. > :01:02.resumed on day 87... On Friday 15th June, the Mail on Sunday contacted
:01:02. > :01:09.the inquiry, outlining in broad terms a story that quotes an
:01:09. > :01:14.excellent source. It was a tale that began with a speech in
:01:14. > :01:19.February in which Michael Gove said there was a chilling atmosphere
:01:19. > :01:27.towards freedom of expression coming from the Leveson Inquiry.
:01:27. > :01:30.This was no secret. The education secretary stood by his arguments.
:01:30. > :01:36.The day after the address, the prime minister said Michael Gove
:01:36. > :01:43.had made an important point. want a vibrant press that feels it
:01:43. > :01:50.can call the powerful to let out. What happened next was revealed by
:01:50. > :01:55.the Mail on Sunday. Lord Justice Leveson got in contact with the
:01:55. > :02:03.most senior civil servant in the country, Sir Jeremy Heywood. The
:02:03. > :02:07.newspaper said that conversation had been interpreted as a threat to
:02:07. > :02:12.resign. I want to to find out whether Michael Gove was speaking
:02:12. > :02:16.for the government, whether it was thought that the existence of the
:02:16. > :02:23.inquiry was having a chilling effect on healthy and vibrant
:02:23. > :02:28.journalism, and whether the government had a few on any
:02:28. > :02:31.potential recommendations. That is, I was concerned about the
:02:31. > :02:38.perception that the inquiry was being undermined while it was
:02:38. > :02:45.taking place. I was told that no fixed view had been formed. And
:02:45. > :02:50.that it was wrong to interpret any concerns all collective view.
:02:50. > :02:55.said the papers were entitled to hold him to account. However, it
:02:55. > :02:59.can be argued that what has happened is an example of an
:02:59. > :03:05.approach that seeks to convert any attempt to question the conduct of
:03:05. > :03:11.the press as an attack on free speech. He knew he was being
:03:11. > :03:17.closely watched for signs he had already decided on his conclusions.
:03:17. > :03:23.On every day of the inquiry, every exchange I have with a witness will
:03:23. > :03:33.be analysed and considered in order to reveal a hidden agenda. There is
:03:33. > :03:34.
:03:34. > :03:41.no hidden agenda. There were recollections of meeting James
:03:41. > :03:45.Murdoch and Alistair Darling from one of the witnesses. It was
:03:45. > :03:55.gruesome. He criticised Alistair Darling over the earlier decision
:03:55. > :03:57.
:03:57. > :04:04.that Mr Darling had taken over the acquisition of BSkyB. -- the
:04:04. > :04:07.requirement of Sky to sell its shares in BSkyB. It was both
:04:07. > :04:15.socially inappropriate for what would normally be an exchange of
:04:15. > :04:20.political gossip and inappropriate otherwise. It was a classic English
:04:20. > :04:29.embarrassment where no-one knew where to look. He did not warm to
:04:29. > :04:36.the view that papers were the voice of their readers. When I read a
:04:36. > :04:40.column for a leader in the papers saying, our leaders say this, I am
:04:40. > :04:48.sceptical. They I to judge it by totally unscientific methods like
:04:48. > :04:55.volume of e-mails. They do not analyse what their readers believe.
:04:55. > :05:00.In most cases, these opinions are formed by half a dozen people.
:05:00. > :05:05.it was later explained that comment was important to papers because
:05:05. > :05:11.they con -- compete with broadcasters. They no longer want
:05:11. > :05:16.to be a newspaper of record but to provide analysis for comment. They
:05:16. > :05:21.do not want to regurgitate what their readers have seen on the Ten
:05:21. > :05:26.O'clock News bulletins the night before. That has changed the
:05:26. > :05:33.character of the product. It is something that the inquiry
:05:33. > :05:39.has heard it time and time again - newspapers his television and radio.
:05:39. > :05:43.An inquiry barrister asked if that... Will all of that left
:05:43. > :05:48.political coverage? You have explained that you take the view
:05:48. > :05:54.that most people have crossed the line between scepticism of
:05:54. > :06:00.politicians and cynicism. When you see most papers, do you include
:06:00. > :06:06.your own? I would regard the Independent as whole police
:06:06. > :06:12.sceptical. I would say the Guardian is healthily sceptical I would say
:06:12. > :06:17.that papers like the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph have become too
:06:17. > :06:23.cynical. There was nothing year in rough handling of politicians,
:06:23. > :06:30.according to a former Times political editor. There were
:06:30. > :06:36.occasions when the treatment of certain politicians was over the
:06:36. > :06:45.top. I can recall the newspaper trade and of John Major, Neil
:06:45. > :06:50.Kinnock, Gordon Brown, where it got too personal. -- newspaper
:06:50. > :06:55.treatment. However, I do not regret the passing of the age of deference
:06:55. > :07:04.at all. There has not been much deference to Jimmy Carr since the
:07:04. > :07:08.Times reveal details of his taxation arrangements. The Leveson
:07:08. > :07:17.Inquiry heard how the investigation was pursued. In our series of
:07:17. > :07:22.investigations last week, the disclosures about tax avoidance, we
:07:22. > :07:27.used an undercover reporter to become involved in that. There was
:07:27. > :07:37.a lot of discussion within the Times about the way we went about
:07:37. > :07:38.
:07:38. > :07:42.our investigation. High relief provided that you know what you are
:07:42. > :07:48.after her is in the public interest, you have to believe that what you
:07:48. > :07:57.are dealing in the public interest. Such techniques are perfectly OK.
:07:57. > :08:02.Channel 4 News has long prided itself on the exclusives. But they
:08:02. > :08:06.may have missed a few opportunities. One would be staking out Downing
:08:06. > :08:12.Street and he would be aware of the comings and goings of some of the
:08:12. > :08:18.Peter Kay -- individuals have featured in this inquiry. I do not
:08:18. > :08:24.know why we never really asked what they were doing there. In some ways,
:08:24. > :08:31.we did not ask for because we felt it would be visited upon us.
:08:31. > :08:34.Sometimes broadcasters opened their cheque books. We paid Monica
:08:34. > :08:43.Lewinsky for the first interview that she gave after the shenanigans
:08:43. > :08:53.with Bill Clinton. However, that, in my opinion, that was different.
:08:53. > :08:57.The idea that you are paying someone to give you information
:08:57. > :09:03.about... Or give you access to material that they are able to
:09:03. > :09:09.access through their work, that is totally unacceptable. Jon Snow is
:09:09. > :09:15.both a journalist and celebrity. He has his own tussles with the media.
:09:15. > :09:21.As someone who has been apologise to by a tabloid, the original
:09:21. > :09:31.offence spread over five pages, the conviction that it was completely
:09:31. > :09:31.
:09:31. > :09:34.untrue, the retraction, the apology... The apology was 1.5
:09:34. > :09:42.inches. The wrestle was whether they should be a photograph of me a
:09:42. > :09:52.part it or not. He had no problem with attack in the papers. There is
:09:52. > :09:53.
:09:53. > :10:00.something SED is about -- insidious about Associated Newspapers. I
:10:00. > :10:05.believe they have an agenda for trying to undermine or destroy the
:10:05. > :10:09.careers of individual people in public life. That is not healthy.
:10:09. > :10:19.This is not a question of suppressing press freedom. It is
:10:19. > :10:25.about dealing with the important things in life instead. It is
:10:25. > :10:30.pernicious and I think at times mendacious. And I try to analyse if
:10:30. > :10:35.a lot, I tried to see what it is that makes this worthwhile. Where
:10:35. > :10:45.does it come from? What role does the editor at Associated Newspapers
:10:45. > :10:57.
:10:57. > :11:01.Mendacious is quite a charge, but he was not asked to provide any
:11:01. > :11:06.evidence of his own. Next up was the Mail on Sunday journalist to
:11:06. > :11:11.wrote that story about the contact with the Cabinet Secretary. Yet
:11:11. > :11:20.despite spending 20 minutes addressing the issue that morning,
:11:20. > :11:25.the judge reached what was perhaps a surprising conclusion. I have no
:11:25. > :11:31.intention of asking any questions about 17th June. There is some
:11:31. > :11:35.nonsense that I would like to deal with. He is said that the reporter
:11:35. > :11:41.had been invited before he wrote his article. He was questioned
:11:41. > :11:46.about the comment that found its way into his pieces? I tried to
:11:46. > :11:52.rattle of Nine News stories in a fair and balanced way. So when you
:11:52. > :11:57.write a news report, that you would insure, or try to ensure as its you
:11:57. > :12:04.can, that there is no comment or opinion without our article?
:12:04. > :12:12.Broadly speaking, yes. But when you are riding a news story, there is
:12:12. > :12:16.an element of story and Alaric -- narrative. And, if you were
:12:16. > :12:22.reporting the bare facts, you would be left with a pretty dry story, at
:12:22. > :12:32.the end of the day. At the end of the day, there is an element of
:12:32. > :12:33.
:12:33. > :12:40.interpretation. I know people who were involved in that flow of
:12:40. > :12:50.information. It was an open secret that Downing Street could more or
:12:50. > :12:51.
:12:51. > :12:56.less dictate the terms of the journalists. And then we heard from
:12:56. > :13:04.this up to the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who also made
:13:04. > :13:09.bread Michelle, in a state room at Number Ten. News Corp's attempts to
:13:09. > :13:13.buy the be -- BSkyB shares that it did not already Yarin, was on the
:13:13. > :13:16.agenda. I was not entirely surprised that we would take the
:13:16. > :13:22.opportunity, given that we were sitting in a run together, to try
:13:22. > :13:26.and pick my brains. In an e-mail to James Murdoch, Fred Michele said
:13:26. > :13:32.that they should discuss any Labour on board as it would influence
:13:33. > :13:37.Vince Cable. He had no recollection. It strikes me in the way that this
:13:37. > :13:42.is phrased, there is an implication that I was offering strategic
:13:42. > :13:49.advice to News Corp. In return for the furtherance of their beards. At
:13:49. > :13:53.that time, it was in progress. And that I was offering that advice
:13:53. > :13:57.with the implication that Vince Cable would be receptive if they
:13:57. > :14:07.took one stance or another in relation to the Labour Party. That,
:14:07. > :14:09.
:14:09. > :14:13.I completely reject. 28 people, 22 of them children, died when a train
:14:13. > :14:18.crashed in Switzerland in March. A British boy was one of the victims.
:14:18. > :14:22.A solicitor and friend of the family told the inquiry that his
:14:22. > :14:27.nine-year-old sister was photographed on the porch of the
:14:27. > :14:35.hotel has signed to grieving families. And how newspapers quoted
:14:35. > :14:40.from a message posted on a block set up for the children's family is.
:14:40. > :14:46.The Daily Mail published an article and online on their website, the
:14:46. > :14:50.online article, a copy which is exhibit three, included the
:14:50. > :14:54.photograph of his sister, the family photographs which I will
:14:54. > :14:58.describe in a minute, and the photograph of Sebastian in his
:14:58. > :15:04.skiing outfit which was taken from the or mind block. Some of the
:15:04. > :15:10.pictures were taken from Sebastian putts father's Facebook account.
:15:10. > :15:16.The photographs published of your clients on holiday, one at croc to
:15:16. > :15:21.show only Sebastian, and were taken from Mr Rolls's Facebook page on
:15:21. > :15:25.Friday, at a time when they were openly accessible. We know that the
:15:25. > :15:30.page's prissy sessions have now increased and we have removed the
:15:30. > :15:37.photographs from the website. Mail expressed its in the but only
:15:37. > :15:41.recently removed the picture of his sister. The son was asked not to
:15:41. > :15:45.print a pitch of Sebastian, they used one anyway. British
:15:45. > :15:50.journalists turned up at the family home in Belgium. Although the
:15:50. > :15:54.reporter was said to be polite and somewhat apologetic. There was no
:15:54. > :15:59.sense of apology at all from some in the foreign media. One Belgian
:15:59. > :16:05.newspaper and one Belgian magazine printed that picture of her lane up
:16:05. > :16:08.on their front pages. That is exhibited in exhibit a lemon. Ask
:16:08. > :16:13.you to turn that up because of the distressing incident that took
:16:14. > :16:19.place in respect of it, which is that Edward saw the magazine in a
:16:19. > :16:25.supermarket with his daughter as it was Premier League displayed. And
:16:25. > :16:30.they were both very upset by it. As they passed it, another member of
:16:30. > :16:34.the public 0.2 them both. A letter to the Press Complaints Commission,
:16:34. > :16:39.did see fewer reporters outside the home and meant that none were
:16:39. > :16:43.President as his funeral. Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb are used to be an
:16:43. > :16:52.adviser to Nick Clegg. While Business Secretary Vince Cable was
:16:52. > :16:56.deciding whether to report the news Corp BSkyB bid to Ofcom. And then
:16:56. > :17:00.Fred Lamb took two meetings. It was uncovered by his wife on the
:17:00. > :17:05.morning of this appearance. He read that account of what he described
:17:05. > :17:09.as an extraordinary encounter. have been supportive of the
:17:09. > :17:18.coalition, but if it goes the wrong way, he is worried about the
:17:18. > :17:23.implications. It was brazen. The case is referred to Ofcom, they --
:17:24. > :17:28.turn nasty. Refer the case and the implication was clear out - the
:17:28. > :17:32.News Corp would turn against the coalition. He cut not remember the
:17:32. > :17:39.words that Michelle had used. But I remember that I left that meeting
:17:39. > :17:46.with a very clear understanding that, firstly, they had been trying
:17:46. > :17:51.to be helpful since the election, through their newspapers. But, that
:17:51. > :17:56.if things went the wrong way, in terms of the actions that Vince
:17:56. > :18:03.Cable took, in exercising his responsibility, then he was
:18:03. > :18:13.concerned that things could change. And I took that to mean very
:18:13. > :18:14.
:18:14. > :18:19.clearly, that the positive coverage that they had given, might change.
:18:19. > :18:24.Now it Clegg told the inquiry that he did not regard the threat as
:18:24. > :18:29.credible. He said that he had been horrified by what had been taking
:18:29. > :18:36.place at the meeting. It left an obvious question. I have been asked
:18:36. > :18:41.if we this to you, why were you so late in coming forward with these
:18:41. > :18:47.terms, with his evidence? I have been thinking for some time about
:18:47. > :18:54.whether I should contact the inquiry. I had been thinking over
:18:54. > :18:57.in my mind, at a time when I have been trying to get to grips with
:18:57. > :19:04.new ministerial responsibilities. When Vince Cable gave his evidence,
:19:04. > :19:09.I felt that I had to tell the story of what happened. In a sense, you
:19:09. > :19:13.are left with a gap, you are left with a lack of clarity. I felt that
:19:13. > :19:17.it was important that you got that full story. We have long thought
:19:17. > :19:20.that we knew the full story about the former Conservative minister
:19:20. > :19:24.who was the subject of a kiss-and- tell in the 90s and famously
:19:24. > :19:30.accused of conducting an affair with an actress while wearing a
:19:31. > :19:39.replica football strip. When I comes to the wretched Chelsea strip.
:19:39. > :19:43.I never felt the need to own one. And that was a total invention. And
:19:43. > :19:49.then Mr Clifford, I am amazed, it does not take his own very
:19:49. > :19:55.seriously. This was cooked up between him and the then deputy
:19:55. > :20:02.editor of the Sun, Mr Higgins. Because the then editor, he is now
:20:03. > :20:07.of course they senior statesman. I don't want to go to my grave with
:20:08. > :20:12.the only thing people remembering about me as some Chelsea shirt.
:20:12. > :20:16.That is a sign and that is the high-water mark of the arrogance of
:20:16. > :20:22.power without responsibility. Because, they made that up, they
:20:22. > :20:25.made that up with total cynicism. In this telling evidence on the
:20:25. > :20:32.final day of the inquiry is looking at the relationship between press
:20:32. > :20:36.and politicians. The former minister possibly best known for
:20:36. > :20:40.something that he says they made up. They know -- what no-one can ignore