“I don’t think that man should be allowed anywhere near the House of Lords. He has already poisoned the well of British politics quite enough.”
A Labour MP has said that the peerage due to be awarded to Paul Dacre, the former editor of the Daily Mail, should be delayed after legal action was taken by a number of high-profile individuals against the paper’s publisher over allegations of breaches of privacy and phone tapping.
Dacre, who is currently editor in chief of DMG media, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, is set to become a Tory peer. He has long been mooted for a peerage and Ben Riley-Smith, political editor of the Daily Telegraph, listed his name as one of the new peers to be created by Downing Street ‘any day now’.
Labour MP Chris Bryant, who formerly chaired Parliament’s media committee, has questioned whether it’s appropriate for Dacre to be handed a peerage.
He told the Guardian: “I think some peerages have been delayed while people have been under investigation. You could argue Dacre’s organisation is under investigation so there’s an argument that should be delayed as well.
He added: “I don’t think that man should be allowed anywhere near the House of Lords. He has already poisoned the well of British politics quite enough.”
Among the high-profile individuals taking action against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Mail, are Elton John as well as the actress Elizabeth Hurley and Doreen Lawrence, the mother of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a racist attack in 1993.
The legal action claims to have evidence of the use of listening devices being placed in cars and homes, bugging and recording private phone calls, paying police officials for sensitive information and impersonating people to pay for medical information from hospitals and clinics.
Law firm Hamlins claimed the alleged crimes “represent the tip of the iceberg – and that many other innocent people remain unknowing victims of similar terrible and reprehensible covert acts”.
Associated Newspapers said in response to the allegations: “We utterly and unambiguously refute these preposterous smears.”
“These unsubstantiated and highly defamatory claims – based on no credible evidence – appear to be simply a fishing expedition by claimants and their lawyers.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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