Sunday Mirror And Hon Members For Linlithgow And Torbay

EDM number 297 in 1991-92, proposed by Rupert Allason on 28/11/1991.

That this House notes that on 27th October 1991 the editor of the Sunday Mirror Bridget Rowe, published an article written by the honourable Member for Linlithgow under the headline 'The Truth, Nailing the Lies, Independent Opinion' in which it was alleged that the honourable Member for Torbay had abused Parliamentary privilege by making statements in the Commons that he was not prepared to repeat outside the chamber for fear of libel proceedings and specifically that he identified the honourable Member for Torbay by name and stated 'morally, if not legally, Parliamentary privilege should not be used to make assertions which cannot be substantiated'; notes that at the time the article was published in the Sunday Mirror its editor, Bridget Rowe, knew that Mirror Group newspapers had already issued and served a libel writ on the honourable Member for Torbay detailing two separate occasions on which he had repeated the statements complained of in the article; recognises that the Sunday Mirror failed in its duty to its contributor when it failed to inform the honourable Member for Linlithgow that his article was wholly misconceived; expresses concern that the editor of the Sunday Mirror has failed to reply to a letter of complaint; and condemns the Sunday Mirror for waging a campaign of vilification against one honourable Member and deliberately misleading another.

This motion has been signed by a total of 1 MPs.