Leveson to speak out on ‘quit’ claims

The judge leading the investigation into media ethics will give his public reaction next week to a newspaper report that a Minister’s intervention nearly made him quit.

Lord Justice Leveson was sufficiently concerned about the Mail on Sunday article that he had considered convening a special hearing of the inquiry, which is not sitting next week.

But he has now written to designated “core participants” to the review inviting comments and pledging to deal with the issue on Monday.

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In the article, the inquiry chairman was said to have asked the country’s most powerful civil servant to gag Education Secretary Michael Gove. In February Mr Gove said he saw “dangers” in the inquiry into press cultures, practices and ethics.

The Mail quoted a Government source saying Lord Justice Leveson was “spitting tacks with Gove and was ready to resign unless the Minister was told to shut up”.

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