Local MP wants the dirt on tabloids

Clive Soley plans 'dodgy dossier' on editors and owners

Local MP Clive Soley has stepped up his battle against the hypocrisy of the tabloid press by urging visitors to his web log to report any details of sexual misdemenours by owners, editors and staff.

His latest attack follows the media frenzy over the personal life of Sven Goran Eriksson and employees of the Football Association.

Clive said, "I am no great expert on football but I didn’t realise that being employed as England’s manager required sexual abstinence! Should the next advert for the job only be circulated to Monasteries?"

He admitted that the FA made a big mistake by simply refusing to comment but asked if the people caught up in this row really have to resign because of consensual sex between adults and, if they do, shouldn't people in the positions of responsibility in the national press be held to the same standards?

He urged 'people in the know' to send him information so that he could build up a dossier of dodgy editors and associates.

Clive Soley has consistently been a thorn in the side of major media groups. He previously highlighted what he believes to the double standards of the News International group which, whilst at the same time as running articles highlighting sexual indiscretions of celebrities, was allegedly paying a victim of serious sexual harrassment half a million pounds to ensure their silence.

He said, "If the press consider it acceptable to trash people's lives often on the basis of trivial stories about sexual relationships between consenting adults, then they cannot be allowed to cover up much more serious cases of sexual harassment in their own organisations."

When he wrote to the News International Group he received a reply from the Sun's editor Rebekah Wade which he interpreted as a thinly veiled threat. The reply asked how many complaints about sexual harrasment he had received as Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party

Mr Soley believed that Ms Wade was hinting that, unless he desisted from his investigation into the alleged harrassment at News International, the Sun would seek to publish revelations about members of the Labour Party. This prompted him to report the matter to the speaker. He said, "It must be a matter of serious concern when a major multi national media group uses its editors to threaten a Member of Parliament who is carrying out a legitimate enquiry into that group's employment practices"