The Sunday Express editor in 1957 was called to Parliament. He had published an article on MPs who evaded petrol rationing after Suez.
This bombshell revelation was correct, and Sir John Junor was the last politician to be rebuked. There is a chilling reminder of the threat that Press freedom faces today.
What is the trigger? The Mail on Sunday, our sister newspaper.
It reported on a Tory MP’s claim that Angela Rayner, a Tory member of Parliament, had confessed to using her legs in an attempt to distract Boris Johnson at Prime Minister’s Question.
A Tory MP claimed that Angela Rayner had admitted using her legs to distract Boris Johnson during PMQs
You can’t help but feel fury. Rayner became rageful and apoplectic. On social media, there was much criticism. The Commons Speaker, who called the article’misogynistic’ and offensive, furiously promised to bring the editor of the paper for clarification.
Some politicians called even for the Commons pass to be revoked from the journalist behind the story.
Aren’t we just shooting at the messenger?
Although we are grateful for the respect shown to the Speaker’s honorable office, doesn’t his intemperate style suggest that he is already judging the article on which he does not possess all the facts?
As we reveal today, three other MPs – including one woman – have corroborated the account of Mrs Rayner’s remarks.
Moreover, in a podcast in January, she herself raised claims that she had copied Sharon Stone to fluster the PM – and, while saying she was left mortified, she also joked about it in the most vulgar vernacular.
The Mail is against sexism in any form. Many will be disappointed that so much attention and energy is being focused on something they see as trivial, against the background of Europe’s war.
Yet for democracy to function effectively, journalists must be free to report what they are told by MPs about conversations and events in Westminster – however unsavoury.
His crude attempt to censorship has led the Speaker to new troubling depths. This is why newspapers are afraid of having their wings cut by Parliament.