Claire Perry, who has herself clashed with the media, is one of 42 Conservative MPs and two peers calling for a limited form of statutory press regulation as a result of the scandals revealed by the Leveson inquiry.
Mrs Perry, whose Devizes constituency takes in Marlborough, fears that industry proposals for a more powerful independent Press Complaints Commission “risk being an unstable model destined to fail.”
She has signed a letter to the Guardian newspaper along with former Times journalist Lord Fowler, former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former Cabinet minister Caroline Spelman, Zac Goldsmith and vociferous Tory MP Nicholas Soames.
This has caused conflict on the Tory benches, where Education Secretary Michael Gove and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles have been outspoken against statutory controls being introduced by the government.
Lord Leveson is due to report his recommendations to No 10 Downing Street by the end of the month following his exposure of shocking phone hacking by national newspapers, which resulted in the closure of the News of the World, alleged illegal payments to the police and politicians’ private links with offending newspapers.
Prime Minister David Cameron, whose e-mails to Fleet Street executive Rebecca Brooks was one of sensations of the Leveson inquiry, has said he wants to keep an open mind on what action government ought to take when Lord Justice Leveson reports.
But already the media industry and Tory MPs have started a propaganda war against the introduction of any form of state control over the freedom of the media, the letter to the Guardian seen as a counter-measure to show there is cross-party consensus for limited reforms to be introduced.
“No one wants our media controlled by the government but, to be credible, any new regulator must be independent of the press as well as from politicians,” the letter says.
“We are concerned that the current proposal put forward by the newspaper industry would lack independence and risks being an unstable model destined to fail, like previous initiatives over the past 60 years”.
But it is reported today that Tory colleagues believe their views are “disappointing and misguided,” John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, declaring: “I am opposed to any kind of statutory regulation of the press, including statutory under-pinning.”
“While I understand the strength of feeling that some action needs to be taken, given the behaviour by sections of the press has been so bad, I think the new regulatory system proposed by the industry, which includes new powers that were not there before, deserves to be given a chance.”
Marlborough News Online has asked Mrs Perry for a personal statement.
