One of the media’s vices is to assume that the public are as interested in stories about journalism as journalists are. This always makes me slightly reluctant to write about the Leveson inquiry – more fascinating for my trade than to anybody else.
But the Leveson inquiry is about to enter its political phase which, I think, makes it more relevant. Politicians will start appearing before it from towards the end of next month and, as I say in the Mail on Sunday, David Cameron is scheduled to face the inquiry which he created in mid-June. Six other Cabinet ministers are expected to be summoned before the inquiry.
For Cameron, this is going to be a tricky moment (think horses, Oxfordshire weekends etc). One ally of his predicts that it will be an ‘excruciating experience’ for him. The inquiry is likely to rake over the coals of several incidents that have caused him political damage: the Tories’ decision to hire Andy Coulson after he had resigned from the News of the World, his friendship with Rebekah Brooks and his courting of Rupert Murdoch.
But, crucially, Cameron will — I understand — appear after Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, both of whom wooed media proprietors just as assiduously as Cameron did. Friends of the Prime Minister hope that this will provide the context to his behaviour, to explain why he felt the need to get as close to the media — and News International, in particular — as he did.
The other thing that Cameron needs to do before the inquiry is to make the case, as he has done in the past, for a free and vigorous press. At the risk of sounding pompous, it is important to our democracy that we have a media that can expose things like the boasts of Peter Cruddas about what a donation to the Tory party could secure.
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