Peers vote for new attack on Press freedom
Not content with defying will of 17.4m Brexit voters, now unelected Lords ride roughshod over Tory manifesto
‘They’re completely out of control’ May 10
PEERS were last night accused of treating newspapers like ‘enemies of the state’ after they ignored a vote by MPs and backed another attack on Press freedom.
The House of Lords voted for a fresh multi-million-pound inquiry into historical allegations against newspapers – despite the Commons rejecting a similar proposal last week.
Opponents warned the upper chamber was overstepping its ‘constitutional legitimacy’ and should defer to elected MPs.
They also pointed out that peers were ignoring promises made in last year’s Conservative manifesto – and said the proposal risked muzzling free expression.
Labour and Liberal Democrat Lords yesterday joined forces to demand another Leveson- style inquiry by 252 votes to 213, a majority of 39.
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said the vote was a ‘clear breach of the constitutional convention that the Lords do not oppose manifesto commitments’.
The Data Protection Bill will now return to the Commons as early as today for another vote. The Government defeat follows weeks of attempts by peers to sabotage Brexit by inflicting 14 defeats on ministers over EU legislation.
Last week MPs rejected a Labour proposal for a new press inquiry by a majority of nine votes, in what was hailed by Culture Secretary Matt Hancock as a ‘great victory for a free and fair Press’.
But yesterday peers backed a new amendment to the Bill proposed by Baroness Hollins.
In an attempt to peel off MPs in the Commons, it made concessions to the Democratic Unionist Party – which last week voted with the Government – and also excluded local and regional papers.
Speaking during the debate, Baroness Hollins said an inquiry was needed to look at allegations of ‘illegality, corruption and improper conduct’ among newspapers and the police.
But she came under fire from Lord Hunt of Wirral, a Cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, who said the move was ‘ yet another attempt by politicians to meddle in the internal affairs of the news media and ultimately to muzzle free expression’.
He said it was ‘ shaming’ that Britain has plummeted down international rankings of free speech.
He added: ‘What message are we now going to send out, that the free media are enemies of the state? They may be unruly and they may challenge us in ways that make us uncomfortable but they are not our enemies.’
Crossbench peer and QC Lord Pannick said the Conservative manifesto before last year’s election had opposed another Leveson inquiry, and argued that peers should accept the will of MPs. He added: ‘It really is time for this House to give way to the views of the Commons on this.’
Tory peer Lord Cormack said peers would be ‘over-emphasising our constitutional legitimacy’ if the Lords rejected the vote by MPs. ‘The other place has thought again. This is not the moment to introduce new amendments, to protract ping-pong by bringing in a new ball,’ he said.
‘We have with proper deference to the elected house to accept the line that they have taken.’
Former ITV boss Lord Grade said a second press inquiry could pose a ‘risk to free speech’. He said the shortcomings of the now-abolished Press Complaints Commission had been rectified ‘effectively’ by the new Independent Press Standards Organisation.
‘I do not believe that it is proper for this House to cobble together a late amendment to spend public money on an ill thought through inquiry after the other place has had its say,’ he said. Lord Black, the deputy chairman of the Telegraph Media Group, said there was ‘very little left to uncover’ about Press behaviour and there had been a ‘sea change’ in the way newspapers are run.
The Press now faces a ‘struggle for survival on a day-to-day basis’ and a threat from digital giants such as Google and Facebook, he warned. ‘If we go down this route, in 20 years people will ask why this Parliament insisted on endlessly running repeats of a black-andwhite drama instead of looking at how journalism can survive in global digital environment,’ he said.
But Labour peer and former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott – a victim of phone hacking – said a new Leveson inquiry was ‘necessary’. ‘I have been phone hacked. I have gone to the courts. It was denied by everybody,’ he told the Lords.
‘I had to go to the courts to win... to get my case established that hacking my phone had been a breach in my human rights.’
Speaking for the Government, Lord Keen of Elie said the first Leveson inquiry was ‘diligent and thorough’ and cost £5.4million. A new inquiry would cost a similar amount and was ‘neither necessary nor proportionate’, he said.
Voting records showed just three Tory peers backed the move, including former party chairman Baroness Warsi. But the vote passed with the backing of 121 Labour and 77 Lib Dems plus 43 cross-bench peers.
‘What message are we sending out?’ Peers launch new bid to curb freedom of the Press May 12 IT’S TIME TO PULL PLUG ON THE LORDS From the Mail, May 10 Lords blasted over ‘cynical’ new attack on Press freedom Yesterday
When David Miliband returned to the domestic political scene yesterday, it was in the faintly comical surroundings of a rice factory, on a platform surrounded by shiny blue sacks of Tilda’s finest. It looked a bit like a glamrock stage from a Slade concert 40 years ago.
Miliband and his pals, nick Clegg and nicky Morgan, were certainly playing some old tunes about europe, claiming Britain is being ‘ held to ransom’ by Brexiteers, and promising to campaign for MPs to water down the eU Withdrawal Bill when it returns to the Commons.
But if the sight of them looking like a superannuated pop trio with a microphone each was bizarre, there was one conspicuous absentee who stopped them being a not-sofab four: Miliband’s political mentor, Tony Blair.
Toxic
The truth is, it’s the influence of the former prime minister that lies behind this anti-democratic cross-party roadshow.
From his Central London office, Blair the puppet master has been holding court with Labour MPs dismayed by the party’s continually changing, confused stance on Brexit.
Blair, who also fanned the flames of rebellion in the house of Lords, encouraged Miliband to speak out. he talks regularly to the man he once nurtured for the Labour leadership.
Though the egotist Blair would prefer to be at the front of house, leading the challenge to the Government, a wellinformed observer says: ‘he’s self-aware enough to know his presence would be a distraction, which is why he egged on David.’ The revelation that Blair is involved behind the scenes will be a gift for Tory and Labour Brexiteers, who regard him as toxic.
Former Lib Dem leader Clegg, who has been trying to carve out a public role since he lost his Commons seat last year, has been spotted at Blair’s office, too.
nicky Morgan, meanwhile, is an increasingly isolated figure in the Tory Parliamentary party, and susceptible to flattery by the likes of Miliband — who has been living in new York for five years since leaving in a huff after his younger brother, ed, beat him to the Labour leadership.
Despite his comfortable selfimposed exile, his political ambition is as strong as ever.
Yesterday, his slightly nasal tones could be heard in a prime slot offered to him by the BBC to promote his views on Brexit.
On Radio 4’ s Today programme, he announced like some venerable political seer that if Britain capitulates over the customs union and fails to establish control of our borders and our trade deals, there would be an enormous sigh of relief in europe. Which presumably he would regard as a happy outcome. We mustn’t upset Brussels, after all.
Many listeners would have concluded that a man who gives up his seat in Parliament and takes a huge salary abroad has no right to pontificate on our political future. Will voters really welcome him back to the country he abandoned?
They will point to the irony in Miliband, 52, taking time off from his £400,000-a-year job running the International Rescue charity in new York to portray himself as the lost voice of the British people.
his former constituency, South Shields, is in the South Tyneside area, which voted 68 per cent Leave in the referendum — not that listening to the people comes naturally to a man more used to hobnobbing with liberal darlings such as George Clooney and hillary Clinton.
how piquant that Miliband Major has resurfaced just as his former role as foreign secretary is under the microscope. It was only last Thursday that Theresa May apologised over the Blair government’s involvement in the torture of a Libyan dissident by the Gaddafi regime in Tripoli.
Miliband, who became foreign secretary three years later in 2007, has been accused of lying over what he knew about extraordinary rendition (the euphemism for the kidnap and torture of terror suspects overseen by the CIA) in an attempt to keep the new Labour government off the hook. Funny how he didn’t mention that at yesterday’s carefully stage-managed launch.
Undoubtedly, his appearance with nick Clegg and nicky Morgan will fuel speculation that he is planning to revive his political career.
One reason why he left Britain was the falling-out with his brother. Relations became so poor that he failed to invite ed to his 50th birthday party in London in 2015.
But, intriguingly, David has now buried the hatchet with ed. A friend of the family told me this week: ‘They will never be as close as they were, but they are talking again. They have young children and want the children to get together.’
Attention
While Miliband has made a success of his new life in the U. S., he was bitterly disappointed that his friend hillary Clinton failed to become the Democratic president. There was even talk of a big job under Clinton in the American government, but the arrival of Donald Trump in the White house has forced Miliband to turn his attention to British politics once more.
A return to these shores would offer tempting career prospects for Miliband’s wife, Louise Shackelton, a concert violinist. Last autumn, the celebrated conductor Sir Simon Rattle returned to Britain after more than a decade at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic. he is now director of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). Despite living in new York, Ms Shackelton has played with the LSO in London since Rattle’s return, and there would be a permanent post if she wanted it. A complicating factor if the Milibands returned to Britain is that their young sons are happily settled in schools in new York.
however, there is a ‘ break clause’ this year in Miliband’s contract with International Rescue. That means the reaction to yesterday’s performance — among the public and from MPs — may have a major bearing on whether he has a future in British politics.
While he is seen by Blairite MPs as his party’s lost leader, Miliband knows the chances of making a successful second bid for the leadership are challenging, to say the least.
Saviour
The majority of Labour’s 500,000 members, who have the final say over the leadership, are followers of Jeremy Corbyn and his hard- Left politics, which means it might even be difficult for David Miliband to be selected for a safe Labour seat. The Corbynista roots already run deep, and they loathe Blairites almost as much as they hate Tories.
But what if Miliband is not interested in leading Labour: what if he has ambitions to set up a new centrist party instead? It might appeal to his Remoaner chum Clegg, who is increasingly out of step with the Lib Dems since the collapse of the coalition, and to Tory malcontents such as nicky Morgan and Anna Soubry, who were both sacked by Mrs May.
The creation of a new party is, in fact, the brainchild of a businessman named Simon Franks, who is reportedly putting up £50 million to make it a reality, having made his fortune renting out DVDs. he has called it ‘ Project One Movement for the UK’.
Does Miliband see himself as the saviour of British politics, riding in on his white charger to plant his flag in the centre ground? Watch this space.
Whether British voters will welcome the return of the ‘ king across the water’ is rather less certain.