Today’s Mail on Sunday reports that David Cameron is “set to defy” Lord Justice Leveson if, as expected, his imminent report on press ethics calls for statutory regulation. According to the newspaper, Cameron intends to “resist” any demand for new laws, but will instead order newspaper owners “to ‘clean up their act’ immediately with a tough new watchdog – using the threat of sweeping legal action if they fail to do so.”
Downing Street was swift to deny the story. A spokesman for No. 10 told PoliticsHome that “the Prime Minister has not made any decision about his response to the Leveson report and will consider it in due course.”
Lord Justice Leveson’s report, which comes after months of public hearing, will be published on Thursday. Its contents remain secret until then – and Cameron himself will only receive a copy 24 hours before it is published.