Murdoch Fox Now Hen House Guard

In the looking glass world that is the larger part of our free and fearless press, no behaviour is subject to reproach, no action beyond the pale, and no appointment off limits. So it was that, in a land of make believe that would have been beyond the imagination of Lewis Carroll, alleged press regulator IPSO announced the accession to its board of one Trevor Kavanagh, faithful Murdoch retainer and attack dog.

Why did Kavanagh cross the road? To score More And Bigger Paycheques For Himself Personally Now

As the Guardian has told, “Ipso announced Kavanagh’s appointment on Friday, saying he brought decades of knowledge of the industry and an ‘unparalleled reputation as a political journalist’”. Campaigning group Hacked Off has not been backward in coming forward to pass severely adverse comment on this two-fingered gesture to the public.

“Evan Harris, the joint executive director of Hacked Off, said: ‘Trevor Kavanagh’s appointment to the laughably entitled Independent Press Standards Organisation means that Ipso has abandoned even the pretence of independence from the industry … It was the industry which effectively nominated Mr Kavanagh and drove through his appointment via the editors on the appointments panel”. Why should Kav be less than credible?

Ah well. For Kavanagh, the charge sheet is long, and makes dismal reading. When senior Murdoch executives were arrested on suspicion of bribing Police and public officials, Kav claimed that other Police operations had been put on hold and that as many as 20 officers had turned up to make the arrests. He lied on both counts.

Kavanagh obediently lied about the Royal Charter on press regulation - which should, by itself, disqualify him from being allowed anywhere near IPSO - and claimed that Common Purpose was “dedicated to curbing the press”, which is also blatantly untrue.

He told Sun readers that bribing public officials was OK, going as far as to claim that the paper paid a “tip fee” to a prison officer for information about Bulger killer Jon Venables. The amount bunged was £40,000. Tip fee my arse.

While Kavanagh was telling Sun readers that Operation Elveden was “a costly and vindictive vendetta by an unholy alliance of politicians, police and prosecutors … This was a blatant travesty of justice from start to finish”, he somehow forgot to mention that the Murdoch press had grassed up dozens of its sources, many of whom had their careers ruined and were jailed. It was all someone else’s fault.

And during one trial of Murdoch hacks, Kavanagh reported the words of Mr Justice Saunders in glowing terms … except for the words of Mr Justice Saunders that observed Kavanagh was distracting the jury and disrupting proceedings. The Great Man was barred from the press benches and had to go and sit at the back of the court.

There might be more ridiculous appointments that could be invented - King Herod to chair the NSPCC, perhaps - but to put a propagandist and serial liar like Kavanagh on the board of a supposedly independent press regulator must rank as one of the most tactless and insensitive appointment of all time. Perhaps Joseph Goebbels was unavailable.