Murdoch wants BSkyB - will he get it?

[David Guyatt]

Will this ultimately lead to an investigation by Rozzer's Plc into the Daily Bellylaugh's covert association with the Dirty Digger, or would anything to do with the Press Baron of Oz inevitably be destined for the toxic waste-bin at the Cameron-friendly Director of Public Prosecution?

PCC to investigate Daily Telegraph's covert recording of Lib Dem MPs

PCC to investigate Daily Telegraph's covert recording of Lib Dem MPs
Senior Liberal Democrats complain that paper embarked on a 'fishing expedition' that was not justified in the public interest

Was the Daily Telegraph sting illegal?

Dan Sabbagh
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 January 2011 11.51 GMT


Vince Cable was the most high profile MP targeted by the Daily Telegraph. Photograph: Andrew Winning/Vince Cable

The Press Complaints Commission today kicked off an investigation into the Daily Telegraph's covert recording of Liberal Democrat ministers, following a formal complaint from the party's president.

Tim Farron MP is understood to have written to the commission complaining that the newspaper embarked on a "fishing expedition" in which there was no justification for secretly recording MPs at their constituency surgeries.

The PCC acknowledged it had received the complaint and said it was "looking into the matter". The investigation will hinge on whether the use of clandestine methods was justified "in the public interest".

Clause 10.2 of the PCC's editors' code of practice says that "engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge" can "generally be justified only in the public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means".

The PCC also believes the secret recording can only be used when there is a "prima facie" likelihood of acquiring information critical for a news report it has in the past ruled against "fishing expeditions" in which journalists hoped to entrap someone into an unfortunate or embarrassing disclosure.

Telegraph reporters posed as constituents of several Lib Dem MPs in December, and used covert recording in an effort to establish whether their private thoughts were in line with their public statements as coalition ministers. No other political party was similarly targeted.

The biggest victim was Vince Cable who told two young female reporters that he had "declared war on Murdoch" which resulted in the business secretary being stripped of his responsibilities for media and telecoms competition issues. However, most of the other revelations were quickly forgotten.

Many Lib Dems were left seething at the newspaper's tactics, with senior Lib Dems believing if journalists are allowed to record MPs at their surgeries it will impossible for parliamentarians to speak frankly to members of the public. Others complained that they would have made the same comments if they had been asked on the record.

Days after Cable's embarrassing disclosure, he told his local newspaper, the Richmond and Twickenham Times, that when "somebody who isn't a constituent falsifies their name and address and comes in with a hidden microphone it completely undermines the whole basis on which you operate as a local MP".

The Daily Telegraph editor, Tony Gallagher, is understood to have privately indicated he would welcome a PCC inquiry, and the newspaper has consistently said it believed there was a public interest justification for its tactics.

However, the newspaper's revelations ran into controversy when Cable's comments on Rupert Murdoch leaked out of the newsroom and were revealed by the BBC's Robert Peston.

A spokesperson for Telegraph Media Group said: "There is a clear public interest in the Daily Telegraph publishing this story. The Daily Telegraph takes the Press Complaints Commission code extremely seriously and has always adhered to it."

Sir George Young, leader of the House of Commons, said during business questions this morning: "I think members from both sides of the house should be concerned about the tactics that were used. I think journalists posing as constituents when they are not, raising fictitious with MPs, taping them without their knowledge I think this all risks prejudicing the relationship between a member of parliament and his constituent at his advice bureau. And it doesn't seem to me to be responsible journalism."