BEN KERRIGAN
A complaint has been made by Buckingham Palace to the press watchdog over the newspaper’s article claiming the Queen backed “Brexit” from the European Union.
The article naturally pleased supporters of the Brexit campaign who see approval from the Monarch as positive endorsement of their stance.
Quoting anonymous sources- one of whom claims to have witnessed a “bust-up” between the Queen and pro-EU
former Deputy PM Nick Clegg in 2011, the article stated the Queen told Mr Clegg the EU was “heading in the wrong direction”- a comment that contradicts the politically neutral position expected of the Queen.
In the article, the Queen’s reprimand of Mr.Clegg”stunned other guests”, especially after she supposedly claimed to have said ”I don’t understand Europe”, with a tone of ”venom and emotion”
EDITORS CODE OF PRACTICE
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “We can confirm that we have this morning written to the chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation to register a complaint about the front page story in today’s Sun newspaper.
“The complaint relates to Clause One of the Editors’ Code of Practice.”
Under The Editors code of practice, inaccurate, misleading, or distorted information is prohibited, and imposes a duty on the press to distinguish between comment, conjecture, and fact. However, The Sun’s political Editor, Tony Newton Dunn stated they would not have been reported had they not come from two different and impeccably placed sources.
And whilst acknowledging the traditional requirement of the Queen to be ”above the fray of political issues”, he states that the public have a right to know if the Queen has a view about Brexit.
The Sun Newspaper is right that the public do have a right to know what the Queen’s view is if in fact they have genuine and provable access to that view. It would seem unlikely for the paper to conjure the claim that they were given this information from the sources in question, though this doesn’t make it factual. It also doesn’t mean it is untrue either. Perhaps evidence from other guests who were allegedly present may help give substance to the claim.
DUBIOUS
Professor Vernon Bogdanor, constitutional expert at Kings The Press Association was told by a constitutional expert at KIngs College- Professor Vernon Bogdanor that he was dubious of the claim that the Queen would break from her tradition of political impartiality after decades as monarch.
“I’m very dubious, he said. The Queen speaks and acts on the advice of ministers,” Prof Bogdanor said. “What she said on the Scottish referendum was that people should think carefully before they vote – and that’s a very sensible comment, I would have thought.” It is indeed sensible, but what we need to ask whether the Queen never speaks of her own will and only under the advise of Ministers. This complaint will be investigated thoroughly, and we will be watching.
