Gove launches scathing attack on Leveson inquiry into press
MICHAEL Gove, the education secretary, yesterday launched a scathing attack on the Leveson inquiry, which he blamed for cultivating a “chilling atmosphere towards freedom of expression”.
In comments that could be seen as critical towards David Cameron, who ordered the Leveson inquiry, Gove said there was a temptation for politicians to “succumb” to an establishment inquiry in the “aftermath of a specific crisis”.
But he added: “Sometimes the recommendations give birth to quangos, commissions and law-making bodies that generate over-regulation, and a cure that is worse than the disease.”
The Leveson inquiry was set up in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World, and has heard from a number of journalists and celebrities who must testify under oath. It looks set to recommend much stricter regulation of the press in the future.
Gove, formerly an employee of the News International-owned Times newspaper, was speaking to journalists at the monthly press lunch in the House of Commons. His wife, Sarah Vine, still works for the Times.