McCanns call for 'courage and integrity' from PM on press intrusion inquiry

The prime minister has said no to a Leveson press inquiry part two, despite pleas from the parents of Madeleine McCann

The father of Madeleine McCann has told ITV News the government must have “the courage and integrity” to deliver on its promise for a public inquiry into the British press.

In response to ITV1 documentary, Tabloids on Trial, Gerry McCann called on Labour to proceed with a second part of the Leveson Inquiry.

“The Labour Party made promises to us, alongside dozens of other victims of press intrusion” said Gerry McCann.

“Only Leveson part two will provide justice to those of us who have suffered at the hands of the press.”

“It is critical that this government has the courage and integrity to keep those promises and proceed with the second half of the Leveson Inquiry.”

In 2011, Gerry and Kate McCann gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, a public inquiry launched in the wake of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

Kate McCann told the Inquiry she felt “totally violated” by the way she’d been treated by the tabloids, following the disappearance of her daughter, saying “there was absolutely no respect shown for me as a grieving mother”.

There was meant to be a second part of the Inquiry looking into unlawful conduct within media organisations and the relationship between journalists and the police, but it was cancelled by the Conservative government in 2018.

Under Jeremy Corbyn, Labour was committed to holding Leveson Part Two.

The prime minister told ITV News that the second half of the Leveson inquiry is not among the Labour government’s priorities

But when ITV News put Gerry McCann’s statement to the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, today he ruled it out.

“We set out in our manifesto our programme for action for this government, we’ve laid that out in the King’s Speech, that clearly sets out our priorities – and the second half of Leveson is not among them,” he said.

In 2022, Gerry and Kate McCann issued a claim of unlawful information gathering against News Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Sun and the now defunct News of the World.

The claim was settled in 2023 and damages were paid without admission of liability.

Prince Harry told ITV News that the decision to fight public court battles against the tabloid press is a “centre piece” to why he has fallen out with his family.

He said: “I have made it very clear that this is something that needs to be done, it would be nice if we did it as a family.

“It has caused part of a rift.”

Speaking for the first time after a “monumental” High Court ruling that he was hacked by hacked by Mirror Group Newspapers – he says he finally feels “vindicated” by the judge’s ruling that senior figures at the newspaper group knew about unlawful activities.

“To have the judge rule in our favour was obviously huge. But for him to go as far as he did… this wasn’t just the individual people. This went right up to the top. This was lawyers, this was high executives. And to be able to achieve that in a trial that’s a monumental victory.”

The decision to fight public court battles against the tabloid press is a ‘central piece’ to why Prince Harry has fallen out with his family, he says

In December 2023, a judge ruled that Prince Harry’s voicemails had been intercepted and his private information unlawfully obtained by the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People.

Prince Harry said it had caused him “paranoia, fear and distrust” and that his mother Princess Diana “motivates” him in his legal battles against the tabloids.

Following the trial Prince Harry was awarded £140,600 in damages and later settled the remainder of his claim against MGN, which included a “substantial additional sum by way of damages”.

Prince Harry also said that his battle in court was one backed by his grandmother, the Queen.

Before her death in September 2022, he said he had many conversations with her, and that it is “very much something she would have supported” and something she would want Prince Harry to “see through to the end.”

Tabloids On Trial airs on STV and STV Player at 9pm on Thursday, July 25