Mail on Sunday editor refuses to attend meeting with Commons Speaker over sexist Angela Rayner piece
27.04.2022 - 11:07
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The editor of the Mail on Sunday has doubled down in the face of huge criticism by refusing to meet the Commons Speaker over the sexist report published about Angela Rayner. A piece over the weekend crudely suggested the Labour deputy leader and Ashton-under-Lyne MP had been trying to distract Boris Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs in the House of Commons.
The article, which quoted an unnamed Conservative MP, attracted widespread condemnation from politicians and the public. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Commons Speaker, told MPs on Monday he had arranged a meeting with Mail on Sunday editor David Dillon following the outcry.
But in a response to the Speaker published in the Daily Mail today (April 27), Mr Dillon said he would not be attending. Instead, he suggested that journalists should 'not take instruction from officials of the House of Commons, however august they may be'.
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In his letter, he wrote: “The Mail on Sunday deplores sexism and misogyny in all its forms. However journalists must be free to report what they are told by MPs about conversations which take place in the House of Commons, however unpalatable some may find them.”
He said that while The Mail on Sunday had 'the greatest possible respect both for your office and for Parliament [which] along with a free press they are the foundation stones of British democracy', the invitation would be declined. Earlier, in a statement, Sir Lindsay said he wanted to use the meeting to ask that 'we are all a little kinder', issuing a plea to reporters to consider the feelings of MPs and their families when covering stories in Parliament.
He made the point that
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