Tory blast over PM’s fail to stop law protecting rich and famous
David Cameron’s refusal to stop new press law with celebrity threesome verdict sparks outrage among MPs
DAVID Cameron has sparked anger by last night refusing to do anything to halt judges from enforcing a new press law via the back door with their celebrity threesome verdict.
The Supreme Court’s controversial decision to uphold the injunction against The Sun on Sunday left a series of Tory MPs furious.
The Conservative backbenchers branded it “extraordinary”, “absurd”, “a cheater’s charter” and “a legalistic hijack of our liberty”.
Constitutional expert and MP for North East Somerset Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “This is very bad news and a legalistic hijack of our liberty as it reduces freedom of speech.
“I worry that the Courts have given themselves the right to decide when free speech is in the public interest.
“As judges tend to be very establishment minded this can easily allow for scandalous or corrupt behaviour to be covered up to the convenience of the ruling class”.
Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke branded the decision “a cheater’s charter” for the rich and famous, saying: “It is making a mockery of the legal system.
“This is just someone who got too randy and doesn’t want people to know”
And Conservative MP Philip Davies added: “It’s an extraordinary and absurd verdict, which means celebrities are able to milk all the positive publicity and ignore the negative stuff”.
Commons Justice Committee member Mr Davies added: “The law here is also clearly ridiculous when anyone with access to internet can find out exactly who these people are”.
But the PM discarded their fears to insist everyone must just live with the judges’ verdict.
Grilled on LBC radio by Iain Dale, Mr Cameron said: “We have an independent judiciary and we should treasure that, and we have to accept these decisions.
“Of course Parliament can chose to legislate in this area if it wants to, but I think all attempts at doing this have been very fraught and very difficult and I prefer having a strong independent regulatory body for the press.”
The PM’s refusal comes despite Britain’s most senior judge even calling on MPs yesterday to act if they’re not happy with the court’s ruling.
Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger said it was up to the Commons to pass fresh laws if they think that the senior judges have not “adapted the law to fit current realities”.
A former politician who five years ago used parliamentary privilege to expose footballer Ryan Giggs’ as being behind another privacy injunction said he was “surprised” by the Supreme Court’s decision.
Former Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming said: “The Government is in a position to pass legislation to free up speech in the UK. That is what needs to happen”.
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