Rough trade

Dear Lord Leveson,

It's all about trade. Labour under Blair and Campbell traded early sight of information, big interviews and more with papers and broadcasters, in return for favourable spin; and cultivated contacts that let them know when a damage-limitation exercise was necessary.

(Blair didn't mind ministers revealing policy initiatives to newspapers and broadcasters first - as long as the coverage was positive. Campbell saw the big interviews and front pages as space to be "won". Today at Leveson, Blair shamelessly rebutted just one end of the Paxman McTaggart accusation, asserting his record of attendance in Parliament was exemplary - and ignoring the key charge that he marginalised the importance of Parliament in the way he managed the media and governed the country.)

Tabloids and celebrity agents traded suppression of uncomfortable stories for bigger scoops, with the great British Press ready to hide the sword of truth at the back of the wardrobe in some cases, and unsheathe for others, for reasons never shared with readers.

The police dripped information to the press when it suited an investigation or an individual's pocket, and cultivated favourites. The favoured often asked favours in return.  Sometimes these trades involved criminal activity.

In the world of mobile phones, texts and emails, the ability of those on all sides to be one day charming and the next snarling to get their "trade" done is extraordinary. Re-read the texts from Fred Michel to Adam Smith.  And today we learn that Bojo's press officer, ex BBC political correspondent Guto Harri was so terrified of a BBC London interview with unauthorised biographer Sonia Purnell that he threatened to bring the displeasure of No 10 on Auntie.  What will he do when he's unleashed at News International ?

It would be wrong and dangerous to write new press controls - the law of the land should suffice; but things could be better if the Government and police were made to behave.

Yours, etc