The Slow Exit Of Tom Newton Dunn

The extreme reluctance of those in and around our free and fearless press to take action against those within its ranks whose professional standards slip, sometimes habitually, was never as evident as in the saga of the Sun’s former non-bullying political editor Tom Newton Dunn, who has finally left the employ of News UK after a tenure lasting for 19 years.

In the old days, when journalistic standards were upheld rather more rigorously, Newton Dunn would not have got away with a fraction of his list of transgressions before being sent Down The Road. The sacking of one Boris Johnson by Times editor Charles Wilson for making up a quotation is evidence enough of that. But it took until this year for Newton Dunn to go.

Press Gazette has not mentioned any of the bad behaviour as it tells “In a statement announcing his departure, News UK said: ‘Tom has brought astute and authoritative reporting and commentary to every role he has held and we hope he will continue to contribute to News UK’s titles in the future.’”

Do go on. “Newton Dunn, known colloquially as TND, said in a statement: ‘I’m very grateful to News UK for giving me so many opportunities with The Sun, the Times titles, and the move to broadcast. Helping to launch Times Radio and then a new TV channel 18 months ago has been a huge privilege. It feels now is the right time though for me to move on’”. And not “be moved on”.

No mention that Newton Dunn was carpeted by Sun management as long ago as 2012 - that’s eleven years ago - as then Labour MP Tom Watson observed: “Whitehall editor at The Sun Clodagh Hartley, has recently had a complaint of bullying upheld by an independent adjudicator. According to a number of credible sources, the adjudicator found that her line manager, Sun political editor Tom Newton Dunn, was guilty of bullying”.

Not so long afterwards, Private Eye magazine told of a most unfortunate incident in Moncrieff’s Bar, in the Commons, where Newton Dunn had kicked off with one of the staff. But still he continued in his role as Sun political editor. As he did over the front page splash “EXCLUSIVE: SHOCK POLL … 1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis … ‘Wake-Up Call’ After Paris Blitz”.

As he did over the infamous “QUEEN BACKS BREXIT” pack of lies, which was so blatant that it resulted in a complaint by the Royals to press non-regulator IPSO. As he did over being the paper’s contact for private investigator Steve Whittamore. As he did over apparently trying to get a criminal records check - illegally - for a Tory PPC.

Newton Dunn was heavily tipped at one point to become political editor of BBC Newsnight. But the Corporation, fortunately, dodged that bullet. Not so the Sun, which was so desperate to smear former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that it ran a story called “Hijacked Labour”, claiming “Ex-Spooks say Corbyn is at the centre of a hard-left extremist network”. There was more.

“Jeremy Corbyn is at the centre of an extraordinary network of hard-left extremists pieced together by former British intelligence officers”. The splash used a graphic based on “The Traitors [sic] Chart”. The hard-left elements thus exposed included the Guardian, Stand Up To Racism, Labour’s NEC, the BBC, the People’s Assembly, and campaigning group Open Democracy.

OD was included as it received funding from George Soros. That alone should have rung alarm bells with the paper’s lawyers, and eventually it seems it did just that, as the story’s URL told of a “Legal Removal”. The story had Newton Dunn’s by-line on it. But still he remained in post.

Only in Summer 2020 did he leave the Sun to go to Times Radio, and then TalkTV. How low the Sun’s political editorship had sunk was shown when he was succeeded by the odious flannelled fool Master Harry Cole, former tame gofer to the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog. So now we have an update to the increasingly well-known rhyme.

Tom Newton Dunn, Tom Newton Dunn,

Such a great shit, he got binned by the Sun.

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