Cameron and the Naked Prince

David Cameron must once again be cursing his weakness in giving in to Nick Clegg and setting up the Leveson inquiry into whatever it is into which Lord Justice Leveson is inquiring.

Rupert Murdoch’s decision, assuming that this is what it is, to publish the naked Prince Harry photographs in The Sun today is a calculated act of defiance towards the inquiry, but also another sign of the distance between Murdoch and Cameron.

What I do not understand, though, is why the editor of The Sun could not get hold of Murdoch on Wednesday. Publishing today is the worst of all three possible worlds (publish, don’t publish or publish late). David Dinsmore, managing editor of the newspaper, said the pictures “are now in the public domain in every country in the world”, which is a poor argument indeed.

In fact, The Sun made that explicit on its front page today: “Heir It Is! Pic of naked Harry you’ve already seen on the internet.” It would be hopeless if one result of the Leveson inquiry were that most things could be published online, but only in print more than 24 hours later.

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• http://twitter.com/allanholloway Allan Draycott

  There’s already a 24-hour delay between TV and print so why not internet and print? Would hazard a guess that many, if not a majority, of Sun readers are still not online so it makes commercial sense to publish.

• mubb

  muppet!

• http://www.yahoo.co.uk/ Firozali A.Mulla

  Only point that David has now is not the naked prince running on the streets but this Britain’s
  economy shrank less than first thought in the second
  quarter, data showed on Friday, though the smaller drop changes little about
  the wider picture of economic weakness. The economy has probably returned to
  growth since the end of June as firms made up for the production lost due to
  the extra holiday in June to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 60
  years on the throne. But business surveys continue to paint a grim picture of
  the British
  economy, keeping the pressure on finance George
  Osborne to take action to boost growth and leaving more
  stimulus from the Bank
  of England on the agenda. Gross
  domestic product shrank by 0.5 percent on the quarter, falling
  0.5 percent compared to the second quarter of 2011, the
  Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Economists
  had expected this upward revision to the originally reported drop of 0.7
  percent. Consumer spending fell 0.4 on the quarter, while exports dropped 1.7
  and imports rose 1.4 percent. Net tradeshaved 1 percent off GDP, the biggest drag on growth from trade since the second quarter of
  1998. A build-up in firms’ inventories added 0.5 percent to GDP. A smaller than
  first estimated 3.9 percent decline in construction output still remained the
  main drag on the economy. Manufacturing output contracted by 0.9 percent on the
  quarter while the service sector shrank by 0.1 percent. The economy slipped
  into its second recession in four years around the turn of the year as the
  ongoing euro
  zone debt crisis hurt exports and the uncertainty made businesses
  reluctant to invest. The central bank has launched another round of quantitative
  easing asset purchases in July, buying 50 billion
  pounds of gilts to boost the economy. But the lack of growth has increased the
  pressure on Osborne to ease his austerity drive, aimed at erasing a huge budget
  deficit I
  thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA No man was ever more
  than about nine meals away from crime or suicide. -Eric Sevareid, journalist
  (1912-1992)

• JohnJustice

  The Sun is only in this for the money. Everything else they say about it is humbug.

  Their publication of the photos is not only an act of defiance towards the Leveson inquiry; it is also a slap in the face for the idea of a self-regulated press being constrained by a sense of decency and good taste..

• Kippers

  Mr Rentoul: What evidence do you have that Cameron gave in to Clegg in setting up the Leveson Inquiry? Why do you say it was a momemt of weakness? Why not say that it was a moment of leadership and courage when (despite the potential embarressment) Cameron dealt with the rumours of wrong-doing by NI, blind eyes to wrong-doing by the police, links with dodgy policemen and dodgy private investogators, and pressure on politicians by setting up a judge-led Inquiry? Why not say that appointing Andy Coulson was a moment ogf weakness, or agreeing to country suppers with Ms Wade or appointing Jeremy Hunt a Minister of Culture were moments of weakness?
  Light has been shone on the activities of NI. NI will try to cause trouble because of this. Are you saying that therefore it was wrong to shine a light on the activities of NI?

• Pacificweather

  Mr Cameron, like most politicians, would be only too pleased to see the back of the Murdochs. The NOTW gave him the opportunity he sought. Mr Clegg urged caution but Samantha urged him to go ahead so she would no longer have to entertain the ginger freak. Well, it has as much truth as what Mr Rentoul has written.

• Kippers

  Pacificweather. “Well, it has as much truth as what Mr Rentoul has written.”
  Quite.