How the Government’s relationship with the media is changing

From the way sexual scandals are covered, to crackdowns on off-the-record conversations, the way the media and Government interact is entering a new era, writes Raymond Snoddy

The good news about the Keith Vaz scandal – although not for him – is that there has been virtually no sign of a witch-hunt against the press for the revelations in the Sunday Mirror.

The usual wavers of the Leveson flag and callers for the immediate imposition of stricter press regulation have been largely absent.

Naturally the former long-serving chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee blames the paper for his plight rather than his own behaviour.

He has also hired high profile solicitor Mark Stephens to represent him, and presumably investigate the possibility of launching a lawsuit against the Trinity Mirror title on the grounds of intrusion into privacy via a complaint to IPSO.

He should save his money. The texts and recordings, unless they are complete fabrications – something that is very unlikely – depict a willing and enthusiastic participant in prostitution and no apparent novice in such behaviour.

Though money may have changed hands between the Sunday Mirror and its informants, this was no crude sting operation trying to persuade Vaz do something he would not have naturally done otherwise.

His position chairing the Home Affairs Committee was completely untenable – advocating use of legal poppers when that very legality had been an issue before his own committee.

Talking of being prepared to pay for cocaine in a future encounter, while ruling out actually using it himself, added to the “charge sheet”.

The legality or otherwise of prostitution itself was another issue before the Home Affairs Committee and there are no reports of Vaz declaring what may have been any personal specialist knowledge on the subject.

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In China, when asked about the controversy, Prime Minister Theresa May pointedly noted that it was “important that people have confidence in their politicians.”

When Jeremy Corbyn was given a chance to make another misjudgement he seized it eagerly and declared this was a private matter.

Even Vaz in his resignation statement noted that: “those who hold others to account, must themselves be accountable.”

As far as the media is concerned it is now open season on the 59-year old Labour MP for Leicester East.

It may have started as a tabloid story but the massed ranks of the national press have rolled forward to investigate everything from his previous behaviour and surprising wealth, to whether the payments for the sexual services had come from a Vaz-linked charity.

The Sun has dug out allegations of visits to the Washington Mayfair Hotel at short notice with young men and stays of a few hours, although the MP claimed he only used the hotel for legitimate meetings and did not book rooms.

Even the BBC, which can be extraordinarily sniffy about tabloid sexual scandals stories, has recognised the political significance of this one, with its clear whiff of hypocrisy and conflict of interest.

Vaz will now try to hang on to his membership of the Home Affairs Select Committee, his place on Labour’s National Executive Committee and his seat in the House of Commons.

He is unlikely to succeed on all of them and his voters may take a view of his behaviour. The affair will certainly now be looked at by the Charity Commission and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Hudson.

In the circumstances the married Keith Vaz, or ‘vazeline’ as he has been called, might have difficulty dealing with the general commitment all MPs are judged by – that they “shall never undertake any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole, or of its members generally.”

Post-Leveson, political sexual scandals have become rather thin on the ground in the press, as more stringent interpretations of what constitutes the public interest are now being applied by newspapers.

“Keith Vice”, as the Metro had it, passes such a test with flying colours.

The last political sexual scandal of note – the activities of former Culture Secretary John Whittingdale – was more problematic and nuanced and really came out through online pressure and exposure after a number of newspapers passed on the story.

The allegation was that the press had sat on its collective hands on the details of the adventurous social life of Whittingdale, who was single, because of his responsibility for press regulation.

In the end the Brexit supporter was sacked by Mrs May – not because he went out with women who yielded the whip professionally, but almost certainly because he was a poor Culture Secretary. Although with the current religious Prime Minister, you may never quite know.

But there is another emerging “scandal” that does involve Mrs May, although it has nothing to do with the sexual propriety of the happily married Prime Minister.

The allegation is that Mrs May, or the Number 10 advisors who must have her support, are effectively banning off-the-record conversations or lunches even with trusted journalists.

Meetings that are not pre-planned and approved at the centre are effectively being blocked and there are signs of a crackdown on the use of Twitter and other social media by ministers.

A senior Conservative complained to The Observer of an unwelcome level of interference from Downing Street in political relationships with the media.

Compared with the activities of Keith Vaz this looks like small beer. But the UK is heading for a period of instability and potential chaos for the rest of this Parliament and beyond, and it would be in Mrs May’s best interests to have a decent working relationship with the media. It’s how democracy usually works.

She may not know how to do this. The Prime Minister is not a gossipy lunching politician and she looks like someone who has to have all the detail at hand before she proceeds on anything. This characteristic will lead to increasing frustration.

In the end it could cost Mrs May dearly, because you can already see the signs of the ending of a honeymoon.

The Prime Minister is not trusted by the Remainers because of her tepid support for the cause during the referendum campaign and her current support for Brexit, which may have been her true instinct all along.

She is losing support with the Brexit types because of insufficient zeal for exit because of her caution on triggering Article 50 and her rejection of their pet migration scheme – an Australian-style points system.

Before the next proper political sexual scandal breaks, the Prime Minister might be wise to consider whether she wants to add an irritated, curmudgeonly media to her long list of growing problems.