Media & MPs Condemn Westminster Attack on Press Freedom

The campaign comes after officials blocked Declassified UK from holding a press pass, citing its Gaza “standpoint.”

By Martin Williams
Declassified UK

More than 100 politicians, journalists and campaigners have condemned a “flagrant and partisan attempt to suppress investigative journalism” by Parliament.

It comes after officials blocked Declassified from holding a press pass, citing the “particular standpoint” of our investigations.

They even flagged a recent article about the risk of pro-Israel bias in Westminster.

Now, an open letter calls on authorities to urgently review this decision and issue Declassified with a press pass.

The open letter has also been signed by more than 5,800 Declassified readers and supporters, and was hand-delivered to Westminster officials on Wednesday.  

Signatories include Labour MPs John McDonnell, Clive Lewis and Richard Burgon; the Plaid Cymru leader Liz Saville-Roberts; the SNP’s Chris Law and Brendan O’Hara; and the leaders of Your Party, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana.

Dozens of journalists have also signed the letter, including Peter Oborne, Ash Sarkar, Owen Jones, Sangita Myska, Fatima Manji and the chair of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Richard Sambrook.

They are joined by the heads of Reporters Without Borders, The Committee to Protect Journalists, The Centre For Investigative Journalism, Hacked Off, Good Law Project and Unlock Democracy.

Comedians Nish Kumar, Josie Long, Fern Brady and Alexei Sayle also signed the letter, along with the economist and author Yanis Varoufakis and leading civil rights barrister Michael Mansfield KC.

Parliament has issued passes to almost 500 journalists, providing access to the corridors of power in Westminster. They include many from right-wing outlets like Guido Fawkes and GB News.

When Declassified’s application for a pass was first rejected, officials claimed it was due to capacity “limitations within the Parliamentary estate.”

But documents released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed there was no limit to the number of press passes that can be issued — and capacity was not even discussed as a consideration.

Instead, they cited the “standpoint” of our foreign policy investigations — and bizarrely even claimed that foreign policy does not count as “politics.” 

Outcry

The open letter calls on the sergeant at arms, Ugbana Oyet, to “urgently review this decision and issue Declassified with a press pass.” 

It adds: “We also urge parliamentary authorities to review the way that future applications are processed, to avoid any partisan interference.”

Two other separate letters to parliamentary authorities have also been sent by Green Party MPs and the head of media regulator Impress, with questions about the decision to block Declassified.

The sergeant at arms and the House of Commons speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, both ignored Declassified’s request for an interview.

But a parliamentary spokesperson previously issued a lengthy statement claiming that decisions around press passes “are not based on an outlet’s editorial stance or coverage of any one issue, and any suggestion to the contrary is wholly untrue.”

They added:

“The range of media outlets currently granted access — spanning the full spectrum of political opinion and including a wide variety of independent and critical journalism — clearly demonstrates that the accreditation process is impartial and rooted solely in operational considerations and editorial relevance to parliamentary proceedings.”

Martin Williams is Declassified UK’s chief investigator. He previously worked for The Guardian, Channel 4 News and openDemocracy, where he was U.K. investigations editor. His book, Parliament Ltd, exposed widespread corruption in British politics and sparked multiple inquiries by Westminster authorities.

This article is from Declassified UK.