The Leveson Inquiry will resume tomorrow to hear from Nick Clegg and Alex Salmond.
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Summary of today's evidence
Both Ed Miliband and Harriet Harman want the Leveson Inquiry to look into the issue of media ownership in the interests of "media plurality".
Harman says that she has spoken to editors to agree on a set of principles and has said that there is "more of what they don't want and less of what they want".
Gordon Brown in his evidence yesterday denied ever telling his aides to brief against Tony Bliar in order to force a resignation. Miliband said he was aware of Damien McBride's activites and alerted Brown in 2008.
Miliband is not in favour of statutory regulation of the press but is critical of the PCC having once called it a "toothless poodle." He also thinks that that keeping a record of media contacts would be a good idea.
Miliband went to a summer party held by the Murdochs, which took place after the phone hacking revelations. He didn't raise the issue at the time but felt he "should have done."
Ed Miliband notes that accuracy, harrasment and intrusion into grief often breached and are also "not legal".
Major also denied that Kelvin MacKenzie threatened him in the infamous "Black Wednesday" phone call.
Major said that there was a conversation between him and Murdoch over the Conservative government’s European policy in 1997 where he said that he would not support the Conservatives unless they changed their stance. This contradicts evidence given by Murdoch who said he has never asked the prime minister for anything.
John Major said that he did not seek a close relationship with any part of the media and felt that it wasn’t his role as prime minister to “court the press.”
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Harriet Harman has finished giving evidence.
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HH: As well as having cross media ownership, there's also the issue of ownership of newspapers. The fact that things are moving fast that doesn't mean you can't take action, just because there's a declining readership doesn't mean they are not influential.
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Harman: "I think we've got as far as agreeing the principles, it's how you put them into action"
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HH: "the contract deals with the people who want to leave but not with the people who don't want to join"
HH argues that the current proposals don't deal with people who don't want to join and argues that the news system should have some "statutory recognition".
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Harman calls for a system of "statutory recognition"
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HH (on what editors don't want): "They don't want a slippery slope."
She adds: "We could have a firm cross-party consensus where press don’t need to face a slippery slope because we can give assurances."
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Jay asked if there has an emerging consensus among editors. HH says that there is "more of what they don't want and less of what they do want".
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HH says she has been talking to individual editors, encouraging them to "circle the wagons around a set of principles everyone can agree on."
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HH: after all those years in opposition and years believing we wanted to get into goverment do do a whole range of things, it felt necessary to do more "assuaging, neutralising and courting.
HH concedes that this has now changed in light of phone hacking.
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Harman says there were a lot of contribuintg factors to not getting elected in 1992 including the bombardment from the press.
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Ed Miliband has finished giving evidence. Harriet Harman has been sworn in and is giving evidence now.
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EM: "I think the default position for us as politicians is to try our hardest to use the inquiry's reccomendations to provide a framework for the future and not become an academic tenterhook.
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Leveson: "Acutally, you've all got views, they may be pro or anti but they impact on you all the time."
"For those questions it becomes particularly difficult for you to step outside the day-to-day views that you hold and which might impact on you."
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EM wants the Leveson Inquiry to look into limits on media ownership. Leveson says that he is reluctant to make such a ruling
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EM: “We are elected to represent the public interest.
“I believe there is a case for saying if a politician wants to depart from the recommendations, that decision should be challenged by an appeal.”
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Some mixed reactions to EM's appearance on Leveson so far.
@Nicholas_RL: I agree with something Miliband has said at Leveson. Never thought I'd experience this. #bemused
@Yeesha0000: Ed Miliband at Leveson. Every time I see him I just can't help thinking you've gone for the wrong Miliband UK.
@owbumm: Mr Miliband at Leveson....like watching paint dry. Who is he again?
@Number10cat: Apologies for my silence; I was listening to John Major's evidence to Leveson and fell into a coma. Ed Miliband will wake me u... zzzzz
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EM: My aim is not to stifle one particular organisation or an other, my aim is to restore plurality so that one organisation does not exercise over-weaning power.
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EM (on the PCC Chairman Lord Hunt's proposals): admirable but questions their independence.
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EM says he is not for statutory regulation for content, but thinks there’s a strong case for some form of statutory support for the system.
Adds that there should be some constitutional safeguards for the freedom of the press.
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Leveson suggests that maybe Brooks wanted to get the opposition on her side and develop some "political muscle" to which EM replies "sure".
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EM says he wasn’t clear that there was much greater purpose to the phone call by Brooks.
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EM says that he and Brooks had a conversation where Brooks said she was annoyed with Cable's "declared war on Murdoch" sting.
EM said it was a relatively short conversation but that was the only time she phoned him. At that stage she was CEO of News International.
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Jay QC has addressed the court that EM’s wife does work in the chambers but they have not spoken outside the court.
Leveson has joked “I knew that for some time.”
Jay then adds: "Your wife and I are not partners.
EM then jokes: She and I *were* partners, but we're now married.
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Some mixed reactions to Miliband's appearance so far, however a lot of people seem to be warming up to the phrase "let me reconfigure my memory."
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Break
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EM (when quizzed about an interview with Kirsty Wark on Newsnight):"When i told Newsnight that Rebekah Brooks shd go, I knew I crossed the Rubicon. News Int would see it as an act of war."
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EM says the he, like David Cameron, is in favour of "independent regulation".
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EM says he was worried about saying the outcome of the inquiry should be government regulation of the press as it would be misconstrued.
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EM said that he didn't believe the plurality issues and phone tapping issues should not be linked and that a robust position on phone hacking should be held separately from the BSkyB bid.
He said that at that point he didn'’t believe the issues were linked until July 2011 following the Milly Dowler case.
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EM says that he is pretty sure he didn't meet or have a conversation with Fred Michel but believes then Shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis might have.
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EM said that he was at a party in 2011 held by the Murdochs where they had a brief conversation but didn't discuss phone hacking. He adds "I should have".
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EM said he was in Warwick on a campaign tour when he found out about the New York Times piece on phone hacking.
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EM asked if he was ever instructed by the Brown camp to brief against Tony Blair. Gordon Brown earlier this week denied telling his aides to brief against Blair in order to force him to resign.
EM says that Balls never did, Whelan was known for briefing and added that he raised concerns about McBride's activites to Brown in 2008.
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EM says that Labour was too close to News International and said: "We didn't speak out when there was increasing evidence of News International's behaviour."
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EM has suggested that keeping a record of media contacts would be a good idea.
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EM is quizzed by Leveson on relationships between press and politicians. EM says that these kind of contacts will continue to go on and it's not a bad thing, instead it will serve as a "backstop to transparency".
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EM had a phone conversation with Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre where he called the PCC a "toothless poodle that needed to be put out of its misery".
EM added that Dacre did not agree.
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EM is being quizzed on his contact with the media. He recalls having a phone call with James Murdoch and said he wasn't too surprised and assumed it was a courtesy call.
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@frasereC4: Ed Miliband is the only person I've seen at Leveson who looks glad to be there...
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Guido Fawkes has tweeted in that Jay QC is the boss of EM's wife Justine Thornton.
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Jay asked EM if he thinks concentrated media ownership is a problem.
EM says he thinks it's part of the problem and part of the solution and doesn't think you can divorce these questions on ownership from the behaviour of the press.
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EM cites the McCanns case in relation to breaches of the PCC code which included intrusion into grief, privacy, reporting of crimes, accuracy and others, and further cites that none of those are illegal.
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EM Doesn’t think the “chilling effect” should be used as a reason for not taking action.
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EM: Greater degree of informality in opposition. Having been in government, one is more wary about what is right and wrong.
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EM: Politicians were wary of taking up the issue of press redress, the system of complaints, the way in that worked.
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EM: There's no question that experience in government makes you more cautious
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EM acknowledges that the press reflects the views of its readers and at the same time shapes the views of readers.
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EM: We have what a call a partisan press that is more centre right than centre left.
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Jay asks EM if he agrees there is a conflation between news and comment.
EM is not in favour of statutory regulation to ensure balance and says that it would be difficult to monitor and distinguish betwen news and fact.
He says that one outcome might be that if there is a new body, they can at least seek to raise standards through an annual report for instance.
He notes that inaccuracy is a problem and is also in the code and there should be remedies for inaccuracies.
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EM: "At the worst there is a mutual culture of contempt between press and politicians."
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Ed Miliband has launched into a speech on the inquiry prompting a chorus of groans from Twitter.
@ChristinaMaroc: Ed Milliband making a speech?
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News International have issued a statement about Major's claim that Murdoch had threatened to oppose the Conservative government if they did not change their European Policy:
"News International titles did not act in unison in the 1997 election. The Sunday Times supported John Major, The Times was neutral, and The Sun and the News of the World supported Labour."
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Miliband: "There is a huge responsibility on politicians to make sure your reccomendations don't end up on a dusty shelf somewhere."
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Ed Miliband has been sworn in and has given his name as Edward Samuel Miliband.
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Lunch time round up
John Major said that he did not seek a close relationship with any part of the media and felt that it wasn’t his role as prime minister to “court the press.”
He also said that he didn’t seek an active relationship with the press because it would have been undignified, and stresses that there is a danger with “artificial relationships” between politicians and the press.
Major is careful point out that the inquiry is looking into the behaviour of “the bad” and acknowledges that there are good journalists and that we need to promote “the good”.
Major said that there was a conversation between him and Murdoch over the Conservative government’s European policy in 1997 where he said that he would not support the Conservatives unless they changed their stance. This contradicts evidence given by Murdoch who said he has never asked the prime minister for anything.
Major says that the PCC is no longer a credible body and calls for a voluntary code with statutory authority to impose sanctions, and also argues that media proprietors and editors should take responsibility for the culture they have created.
Major also denied that Kelvin MacKenzie threatened him in the infamous "Black Wednesday" phone call.
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Major says that editors and proprietors should take responsibility for the climate they have set.
He said: “We need to curb the worst to protect the best.”
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Major says there should be a statutory enforcement mechanism, not voluntary. However he acknowledges that there should be
Voluntarily agreed code should not be in the hands of editors. It should be independent, but there should be some press members.
voluntary agreement of the code by an independent body free from the interference of editors or proprietors.
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Major calls for a "voluntary code with the statutory authority to impose sanctions."
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Major suggests that media proprietors should issue written instructions to prevent such behaviour in the future.
Leveson has pointed out that many journalists do adhere to the PCC code and in some cases, the code forms part of their employment contract.
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Major: "This whole inquiry has only come about because those who could’ve ensured proper behaviour have not done so."
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Major proposes that nominal cash payments should be made to people who have been mistreated in the press, but not large sums of compensation provided a credible apology is offered
He also recommends if there are repeated abuses, the regulatory body should have the power to impose sanctions, fines and even a VAT exemption. Major however acknowledges that this would pose a legal problem.
He has also suggested making proprietors and editors personally liable for the content in their titles.
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The Inquiry now turns to the future of the press.
Major says the PCC is no longer a credible regulatory body and no longer commands confidence.
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Jay asks if Major regrets not being involved with the issue.
Major said that unless he had a 30-hour day it wouldn't of been possible.
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Major was told in a report that statutory regulation would give rise to a major storm.
He adds that "it was a missed opportunity" and that the press may not have fallen into disrepute had he enacted some of these changes.
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Major acknowledged that the PCC did make some changes but noted that they were "relatively trivial" and that he appoitned a privacy commissioner.
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On the appointment of John Wakeham as PCC Chairman. Major said that Wakeham "was well-suited at the time to press reform. He believes now that more could have been done."
Major also expressed his concerns over a privacy tort and said that there as a "unversality" of opinion in the press that it would stifle investigative journalism."
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Major said: the principle reason why we were unable to enact Calcutt was we would not have got it through Commons because we didn't have a workable majority.
He cites the fact that the Conservatives at the time had a small majority government making in difficult to get things through compared to having a large majority government.
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Major: "Freedom of the press must not mean a licence for the press to do whatever it wishes without let or hinderance"
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The inquiry turns their attention to the Calcutt reports. The PCC was set up in 1991 and the Calcutt report was published in 1990 and looked into the protection of individual privacy from press intrusion, which recommended setting up a self-regulatory body for the press.
You can read a brief history of the PCC and the Calcutt report on the PCC's website here.
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Major stresses that its important that the leaders of the main political parties support the recommendations of the Inquiry.
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The Inquiry now turns their attention to Calcutt
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Major: "Those parts of the press who behave badly will continue to behave badly and disadvantage those who are good.
“the bad is a cancer in the journalistic body.”
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Major said that he found it odd that in a system of “one man, one vote”, that a man with no vote controls part of the British media.
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Major: Parts of Murdoch's media empire had lowered the general quality of British media.
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Major said that ex Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie told his wife they had "no right to any privacy"
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Major also recalls a News of the World photographer on a motorcycle was sent to follow his son day and night until he got story when he was 20 to 21.
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The Inquiry now deals with personal intrusion, including attempts to access his bank account.
Major recalled receiving a call from a person claiming they were from A&E. The caller said that his son’s then girlfriend had been involved in an accident and needed emergency surgery, and wanted to check if the girlfriend was pregnant.
Major confirmed that the girl concerned was working in her office at the time and was not pregnant.
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Major: Parliament needs to take a view on sum total of media ownership. Should be a limit beyond which no individual/company can go
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Major agrees that media plurality is a good thing. However he adds that Parliament should set a limit on percentage of written press and electronic media that can be under the ownership of one individual or company.
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The Inquiry turns to the 1996 Broadcasting act, which was set up largely to herald in digital age.
The act incorporated proposals on cross-media ownership. Major doesn’t recall direct lobbying opposition but there was some opposition in editorials.
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Before the break, the Inquiry turned their attention to Major's Back to Basics initiative. It was launched in 1993 and focused on issues such as law and order and education.
Major said that the initiative received media support at the start before being ridiculed as a "moral crusade".
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Break
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Major cites the EU as one of the complex issues that are rarely discussed thoroughly in the media.
“Europe isn’t easy, government these days isn’t easy, the easy decisions were taken generations ago and the politicians coming in today are entering a multi-faceted world.”
He adds: “If only one side of a complex argument is presented it takes root in the public mind.”
“The diet of negativity that has been served up has only presented one side of a complex argument. One forgets that the EU was formed at the end of WW2 and the European nations were bankrupt.”
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The publication of the Times story "caused mayhem"
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The Times gave Major the right of reply who said that the source was wrong and came from a biased source and asked the Time not to publish the story as it would damage the peace process.
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Major cites opposition over the Northern Ireland peace process.
He recalls the leak of the Frankework document by a hostile unionist source who was strongly against the peace process and leaked the document to the Times.
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Major said that withdrawal of Sun support may have had something to do with broadcasting policy, which will be discussed later.
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Rob Wilson MP (@RobWilson_RDG) tweets in: We're seeing today Leveson why Sir John Major won in 92 and lost big in 97. But decency shines through in contrast to yesterday's ex PM.
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Major described the Sun changing their support to Labour as "a ludicrous charade" and added that it logically did not make sense for Murdoch to withdraw support from a party that was against joining tohe Euro to throw their support behind a party that wanted to join the Euro.
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Major adds: "There was a whole series of good reasons why the Sun would withdraw their support from the Conservative government."
For instrance he cites that a potential stance would be that the Labour Party had changed and that, for democratic reasons, the Conservatives have been in power for too long and it’s time for a change.
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Major: “I’m surprised the Sun have always been embarrassed about it but don’t think it was surprising that they started to support Labour.”
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Major recalls a discussion with Murdoch in which they discussed the Conservative government's European policy.
He recalls Murdoch saying that unless the conservatives changed their stance on Europe they would withdraw their support from the government
Major notes that “we” referred collectively to all his papers and did not have usual nod towards editorial independence.
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Looks like those under the Leveson hashtag are enjoying watching Major at the Inquiry
@will_blair: Major eloquent and utterly authentic Leveson. 1 of UK's finest public servants. Am still angry at his treatment as PM by nutters in Party.
@JeanneWhalen: Major showing little of the bitterness we've seen from other Leveson witnesses. Probably the benefit of 15 yrs out of office
@elainedecoulos: Major giving an excellent analysis of the problem w/ Brit press. Says what press says about you sticks & hard news often ignored
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Journalist Malcolm Boughen (@MalcBoughen) tweets: Major's evidence comes to the heart of the Leveson problem - politics and media have changed so much - can you put genie back into the bottle?
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The Inquiry now turns to his meetings with media proprietors. Major says that the meeting between himself and Rupert Murdoch in 1992, which Major admits he has no recollection of.
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Major argues that because of the different editorial stances of the printed press, the public gets lost and don't get a clear and concise picture of what the government proposes.
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Major acknowledges that the press play an important role in carrying a message to public. He then adds: "but if it’s perverted by particular editorial stance to the newspaper or infavour of stunts, then the public are given much less than they ought to have in making up their minds near a general election."
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Major defines the public interest as "Media reports that are accurately, fairly and fully what politicians ares saying."
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The inquiry now turns to press coverage of general elections.
Major said: "Over a long time the press has become more politicized.”
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Major: "I think straightforward, clear cut presentation of policy was lost when you moved to political info service"
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Major: “Once you have a political appointee rather than a civil servant the word of the govt is no longer unquestioned.
“We’ve had political spin forever to ensure that it’s presented in the best possible light, we’ve all done it, but I think there’s a dinstinction between a gloss and a deliberate intention to deceive in the way in which news is presented."
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Major: “There are some genuine friendships between some journalists and politicians, but I think there’s a danger with artificial friendships due to mutuality of interests."
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Major: "One must draw a distinction between the good, the bad and the ugly when one comes to talk about journalism as a whole."
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Major: “You can’t see British press as a single entity” in relation to journalists overall and that bad conduct is only down to a minority of journalists.
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Major says that the press' great virtue is that they have a daily pulpit to hold the government to account. You cannot do it effectively if there is a level of "chumminess".
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"Perhaps my memory is very faulty indeed but I certainly don't recollect the same conversation that has been circulated"
Robert Jay QC asks Major about a phone conversation with Kelvin MacKenzie following the events of Black Wednesday.
Major admits the conversation was a bad mistake.
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Major admits that he read the papers a bit too much. He said he was "much too sensitive from time to time about what the press wrote".
Ken Clarke in his evidence two weeks ago said that Thatcher never read the papers and that Gordon Brown was obsessed with the papers.
Brown later denied in his evidence yesterday that he was "obsessed" with the media.
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Major: “The press to me at the time was a source of wonder”
Leveson: "I've had that same experience"
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Major notes that it's not role of PM to court the press and undignified. He adds that if it’s done and there are clear downsides.
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Major: "I didn't inherit naturally close affinity my predecessor had with the press at the time."
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Major: "I haven't come here to complain about my press coverage 15-20 years ago"
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Major said he "wasn't hostile to the press". He was keen to build a good relationship but felt that "too close a personal relationship was not for me."
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Major said there’s a natural symmetry between press and politicians. He didn’t seek an active relationship with press because he didn’t think it would do well and it would be “undignified”.
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JM makes it clear that he did not seek a close relationship qith any part of the media and described it as “quixotic”
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BBC’s Norman Smith (@BBCNormanS) tweets in that the Cystic Fibrosis Trust never received a donation from News International. This is in light of evidence from Gordon Brown yesterday at the Inquiry that he did not permission for a story about his son’s medical condition to be published in the Sun.
“Cystic Fibrosis Trust :"We have checked our supporter database and can find no record of a donation from the Sun or News Int’.”
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Jay quizzes JM on Thatcher’s relationship with the press. He cites that only the Mirror Group and the Guardian were not supportive of her.
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Major is sworn in and gives his full name as John Major. He has given two statements to the Inquiry.
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