L82 Response Accepted in Part

Party Policy on Press Relations

Recommendation

As a first step, political leaders should reflect constructively on the merits of publishing on behalf of their party a statement setting out, for the public, an explanation of the approach they propose to take as a matter of party policy in conducting relationships with the press.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- The UK Government publishes quarterly ministerial transparency data including details of meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, editors and senior executives (GOV.UK, Ministers' transparency publications).
- No published evidence that the Labour Party, Conservative Party, or other parties have published formal party-level policy statements setting out their approach to conducting relationships with the press, as specifically recommended, has been identified to March 2026.
- Ministerial transparency covers government ministers but not backbench MPs, opposition frontbenchers, or party officials outside government.
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 10 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify from published sources alone. The evidence above reflects policy commitments rather than measured outcomes.
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part UK Government
29 Nov 2012

The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012: "On the Government's behalf I can say that we accept that recommendation" regarding disclosure of interaction between politicians and the press. Ministerial transparency data on meetings with media proprietors, editors, and senior executives has been published quarterly since 2010. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report

Read Full Response
Note: PM David Cameron responded to all 92 recommendations with a single statement accepting them "in principle" or "in part". No per-recommendation response was published.
Published Evidence

Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Not Implemented
27 Feb 2025
Political parties Other

No political party has published a formal policy statement on their approach to press relations as Leveson recommended. The issue was politically toxic and all parties avoided it.

View detailed findings

Not implemented. No party published a formal press relations policy.

Political transparency on press relations View Source
Source
Inquiry Leveson Inquiry
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Politicians Primary
Themes & Tags
Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Politicians Transparency Press Relations Policy
Recommendation age 13.5 yrs
Last formal update 4931 days ago