When Maria Miller was Culture Secretary, her aides kindly invited me to a consultation to give my thoughts about government’s involvement in press regulation. I declined, saying that there should be no involvement at all so there was not much to discuss.
It seems that her successor agrees. In an interview with The Times, his first since being appointed to the Cabinet, Sajid Javid has drawn a line under this sorry and deeply illiberal chapter in our country’s history. This is his first serious move since taking the job as Culture, Media & Sport Secretary, and it’s very welcome. He tells The Times:
‘The press is hugely important and freedom of speech is a cornerstone of our democracy. I’m proud of the press . . . Notwithstanding the fact that any industry has its bad apples, I think our press is the best in the world. It is fearless without favour.’
The Press Complaints Commission, he told The Times, ‘wasn’t really working and something had to be changed’.
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