The Labour party has backed away from plans to impose new controls on the press in a move likely to spark fierce controversy inside the party after Prince Harry’s landmark victory in his phone-hacking case against the Daily Mirror.
Party sources made clear on Saturday that Keir Starmer was not intending to revive a second stage of the Leveson inquiry into press standards – abandoned by the Tories in 2018 – nor would Labour oppose current Conservative plans to weaken the press regulation regime in the media bill now going through parliament.
On Thursday, Mr Justice Fancourt ruled that Mirror Group Newspapers had been guilty of “extensive” phone hacking and unlawful information gathering against Harry.
The Duke of Sussex said it was a “great day for truth” and promised to continue his fight for justice.
The ruling triggered fresh calls for a more robust system to protect people from unwanted intrusion, with Labour supporters calling for clarity on Starmer’s stance and policy if his party came to power.
Despite pressure on Saturday night from press reform campaigners and Labour activists, it appeared Starmer was, however, not prepared to risk angering big media companies, including the Mirror Group and Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, in the run-up to a general election.
Starmer has made strenuous efforts over recent months to court rightwing media owners, including Murdoch, with whom he is known to be in regular contact.
The fear in the Labour leader’s inner circle is likely to be that elements of the media would unleash a ferocious pre-election campaign against Starmer and his party, along the lines of that mounted against Neil Kinnock in 1992, if he indicated he would curb their activities once in office.
Labour, under previous leaders, was in favour of reviving the Leveson process. In May 2018, the former party leader Ed Miliband told Tory ministers that their decision to axe the inquiry’s second stage was “contemptible”, and that it was a “matter of honour about the promises we made” to the victims of phone hacking.
On Saturday night, Labour officials pointed out, however, that there was no reference to reviving the inquiry in the latest reports of the party’s national policy forum, suggesting all plans had been ditched.
Earlier this year it was suggested that Labour wanted to retain a law that would have pressured media companies into signing up to statutory regulation, or face large legal costs in any case in which they became involved.
But earlier this month, the shadow minister for digital, culture, media and sport, Stephanie Peacock, signalled in the House of Commons that Labour would no longer oppose the Tory plan to repeal the relevant law.Peacock told MPs that most press outlets had by now introduced some form of regulation, “whether individually or through the Independent Press Standards Organisation”, which, she added, “was not anticipated when the law was drafted”.
She made it clear that Labour would not seek to oppose the Tory move and therefore suggested her party was not more on the side of regulation than the Conservative government.
On Saturday night, the comedian and actor Steve Coogan, himself a victim of press intrusion, suggested it was time for Labour to step up: “We must give up on the Tories, who are wholly owned by the Rothermeres, Barclays and Murdochs, but it is clearly unsustainable, if the rule of law counts for anything in this country, that a new prime minister, who is rightly proud of being a former chief prosecutor, fails to reinstate the second half of the Leveson inquiry so it can correct the false evidence it was given in the first part. Keir Starmer, are you listening?”
Alastair Campbell, former press chief to Tony Blair, also called for Labour to make press standards a central issue in its election campaign.
He said: “The whole body politic has been badly damaged in recent years and I hope Labour put the restoration of political and media standards at the heart of both their campaign and government if they win.
“The worst elements of the press have contributed to the damage done and contrary to their claims the culture has not fundamentally changed since Leveson.
“Without section 40, there is no protection for the public from intrusion and inaccuracy. As well as being an incentive to join a recognised regulator, section 40 acted as a guarantor of access to justice. The claim it threatens freedom of the press is just another press lie.
“The Tories have a majority and so can repeal section 40 but it has to be replaced by something and that should be guided by principles of accuracy, fairness, and proper incentive to be part of a post-Leveson regulator.
“The Tories will never do it because they have never been serious about reform. Labour should do it because it is the right thing to do and they will find widespread support for a campaign aimed at repairing the enormous damage done to our political and media culture.”
