Dominic Raab has defended the editor of the Mail on Sunday for refusing to meet with the Commons Speaker to discuss a “misogynistic” story about Angela Rayner.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle ordered David Dillon into Parliament on Wednesday following an outcry over claims made by an unnamed Tory MP that the deputy Labour leader crossed and uncrossed her legs to distract Boris Johnson during Prime Minister's Questions.
In his response to the Speaker, published in the Daily Mail, Mr Dillon said he would not be attending as journalists should “not take instruction from officials of the House of Commons”.
The Justice Secretary said he thought it was “legitimate” for Sir Lindsay to ask the editor for a meeting, but it was the “prerogative” of editors to decide how they would treat such an invitation.
He told Sky News: “I’m not going to second guess the decisions of editors.”
Pressed on whether the Commons Speaker should have extended the invitation, Mr Raab said: “I think it was a legitimate thing for Lindsay Hoyle to do to invite him and, of course, it’s the prerogative of any editor to decide how they treat that invitation.”
He added that the story was “terrible” and he “can’t stand this kind of thing”.
If the party finds out who the source of the article was they will "take action against it", he said.
In his letter, Mr Dillon wrote: “The Mail on Sunday deplores sexism and misogyny in all its forms. However journalists must be free to report what they are told by MPs about conversations which take place in the House of Commons, however unpalatable some may find them.”
He said that while The Mail on Sunday had “the greatest possible respect both for your office and for Parliament [which] along with a free press they are the foundation stones of British democracy”, the invitation would be declined.
Earlier, in a statement, Sir Lindsay said he wanted to use the meeting to ask that “we are all a little kinder”, issuing a plea to reporters to consider the feelings of MPs and their families when covering stories in Parliament.
He made the point that he had only recently rejected calls to remove the parliamentary pass from another journalist after some MPs called for The Mail on Sunday’s political editor Glen Owen – who wrote the report about Ms Rayner – to have his pass removed.
“I am a staunch believer and protector of press freedom, which is why when an MP asked me to remove the pass of a sketch writer last week for something he had written, I said ‘no’,” he said.
“I firmly believe in the duty of reporters to cover Parliament, but I would also make a plea – nothing more – for the feelings of all MPs and their families to be considered, and the impact on their safety, when articles are written. I would just ask that we are all a little kinder.
“That is what I wanted to talk about at tomorrow’s meeting.”
The story was branded “sexist” and “misogynistic” by Labour and Conservative MPs.
Appearing on ITV’s Lorraine programme on Tuesday, Ms Rayner said: “When I heard the story was coming out and we rebutted it instantly… like this is disgusting, it’s completely untrue, please don’t run a story like that,” she said.
“All I worry about when I’m at the despatch box is doing a good job and being able to do justice to my constituents and the work I’m doing, so I was just really crestfallen that somebody had said that to a paper and a paper was reporting that.”
