LABOUR MPs have called on Keir Starmer to rethink his appointment of a former editor of The Sun newspaper – saying it is a “gross betrayal” of Hillsborough victims slandered by the newspaper.
Liverpool MPs Ian Byrne, Paula Barker and Kim Johnson have penned a joint letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to cancel the award of a top Government communications post to David Dinsmore.
He was editor of The Scottish Sun for four years from 2006 before moving to London and working as editor of The Sun from 2013 to 2015. Dinsmore comes into the Government from a role as chief operating officer of News UK, the British arm of the Murdoch publishing empire.
The Sun is deeply unpopular in Liverpool for slandering people from the city who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and the paper is referred to throughout the letter as The S*n.
Under Dinsmore’s watch, The Sun took a photograph of the 15-year-old victim of a paedophile from her Facebook page and published it after pixelating her face.
He was fined for a breach of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act after a judge ruled that it remained identifiable to people who were familiar with her social media profile.
In 2014, he was named “sexist of the year” by the End Violence Against Women group, which campaigned against The Sun’s infamous Page Three. He was mockingly praised for his “valiant persistence in peddling pornography under the guise of ‘news’”.
These concerns were raised by the three Labour MPs who also told Starmer that his appointment would upset their constituents due to the Hillsborough connection.
The letter raised “grave concerns” about Dinsmore’s appointment “at the same time promising Hillsborough families and survivors that the Hillsborough Law will be introduced”.
It added: “One of the key asks of the Hillsborough Law we are campaigning for is to ensure that senior Government officials and civil servants would be legally compelled to tell the truth at inquests or inquiries following a tragedy at the hands of the state.
“Prime Minister, what sort of message do you believe your appointment of Dinsmore into a senior Government role sends to Hillsborough families and survivors, who have lived through so much pain and suffering at the hands of the publication he has previously edited?”
The letter also noted that The Sun has faced repeated accusations of “disinformation, Islamophobia, misogyny and more”.
Dinsmore’s new role will be permanent secretary for communications, a new position created to improve the Government’s messaging to the public. It is a civil service rather than political role.
News UK and the UK Government were approached for comment.
