Hacked off

So the latest twist in the surreal saga of statutory regulation of the press is that the campaign group which had unparalleled access to the three parties hammering out a settlement in the silent watches of the night now thinks there’s been a terrible mistake. Whoops! Hacked Off has put out a statement this afternoon which says the amendments to the Crime and Courts Bill approved by MPs on Monday night contain ‘an accident in the drafting’ and is now trying to change the amendments so that they won’t impact bloggers and small publishers. You can read the full statement here, but this is the key section: ‘The amendments are

A senior Number 10 source tells me that David Cameron was awake and available throughout the Leveson negotiations. They also point out that Nick Clegg left the meeting at 11.30pm, before the crucial business was done. On the Hacked Off point, they insist that Oliver Letwin ‘very politely’ asked them to leave the room for the sensitive part of the discussions. I’m told that Cameron then chaired a 6am conference call on the result of the negotiations where he declared himself satisfied. He feels that he’s avoided a press law. Downing Street is bristling at the idea that they got the worst end of the deal. They argue that Hacked

Reading the Hacked Off memo on how to lobby Tory MPs is to be inducted into a wholly cynical world view. It declares, ‘These people are likely to be people you instinctively distrust, dislike and despair of. If they are what we need to win, however, we must understand their value and not confuse our values with their intentions’. The memo, leaked to the Mail on Sunday, reveals that Hacked Off think that the Tory MPs who support them are likely to be ‘social authoritarians’, those ‘who have suffered at the hands of the press themselves’ or those who ‘simply want to bring David Cameron down’. This memo is also

It is no great surprise that Hacked Off director Brian Cathcart believes the government can’t be trusted to implement Leveson: the Prime Minister made very clear on the day of the report’s publication that he didn’t believe governments could be trusted to regulate the press via statute. But what is interesting about the draft bill that the media reform pressure group has published this morning is that it claims to be the most faithful implementation of the Leveson recommendations: more faithful, even, than that proposed by the Labour party. Ed Miliband has thus far managed to paint himself as the brave little David standing up to the media Goliaths on

The enemies of a free press, also known as the mysteriously funded Hacked Off campaign, are positively salivating at the prospect of new legislation to regulate the press. I hear that their press conference, held after lobbying the three party leaders, at Four Millbank yesterday gave a glimpse of things to come. Professor Brian Cathcart and former Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris waxed lyrical about their relentless pursuit of justice for their celebrity backers like Hugh Grant, and the lesser known victims of press mistreatment. Despite being promised the chance to quiz the victims, journalists in the room got increasingly irate as the double act hogged the limelight. The tension

Hugh Grant graced Parliament with his presence last night for the ever tedious Brian Cathcart’s book launch. Cashing in on his involvement with the Leveson Inquiry, the journalism professor’s ‘Everybody’s Hacked Off’ was less of a crowd puller than the A-list stars that included Steve Coogan and Max Mosley. Not everyone was enamoured though. Tory MP Gavin Barwell clearly did not take too kindly to being threatened by the hard done-by Hugh: ‘Met Hugh Grant tonight. Interesting that when trying to persuade me re regulation of press he used tactic he criticises media proprietors for using — “If you don’t do what I want you to do I’ll attack you