The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

News 2020

Sun editor in shock denial of wanton sensationalism and international criminality

The editor of the Sun newspaper, Michael Portillo, today defended the paper against accusations of breaching international law in the interests of tasteless sensationalism. He said that the Sun had always stood for free speech and supported Britain's boys in the war on terror.

Controversy erupted last week when the Sun published extracts from the latest volume of the memoirs of former prime minister Lord Blair of Belmarsh.

Although Lord Blair has admitted that the words as published were indeed his own writing, he claims that the extracts were from an early draft of the work, which will be published this autumn in book form under the title In All Honesty.

Lord Blair claims that the Sun obtained the drafts under false pretenses from a discontented au pair who was sacked from the Blair household when doubts were raised about the sincerity with which she had taken her citizenship vows.

If true, the allegations would mean that the Sun is in breach of the international statutes protecting intellectual property rights. If found guilty in a court of law, the newspaper would be liable to pay Lord Blair substantial damages.

"Naturally, to an old social democrat like myself it isn't the money that matters so much," Lord Blair said today. "It's simply the fact that my work - incomplete and unrevised - has been published by people who had no right to it. It's a moral question above all, of course, but there is some personal embarrassment as well. It's as if they'd published photographs of me telling Cherie to order someone to scrub my socks or something."

Mr Portillo said today that the Sun had always stood for free speech and supported Britain's boys in the Middle East. "We find it very strange that a man who has published three volumes of biography about himself so far should object to having bits of a new book printed in a family newspaper," Mr Portillo said.

He added that the Sun had always stood for free speech and supported Britain's boys in the war on evil, and called on readers to show their respect for Lord Blair's achievements in office by entering the newspaper's "Denounce a Gippo and Win a Trip to Benidorm Lotto".

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