The Sunday Mirror has been cleared by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) over a complaint from the Tory MP Nadine Dorries.
The regulator found that the paper’s report that Dorries was at the centre of a police investigation was accurate.
The paper reported days before the general election that police were looking into claims electoral law had been broken when leaflets were circulated on Dorries’ behalf accusing a rival candidate of harassing her.
Dorries said that no such investigation could have been taking place because any allegations that she had broken electoral law would have had to be referred to the police by the returning officer, who would only do so after the vote on 7 May.
But police repeatedly confirmed to the Sunday Mirror that they were investigating allegations into Dorries, Ipso found. It said that the paper also included Dorries’ denial that she had done any wrong in its story.
Dorries also complained that the story, which was headlined “Tory Nad stalking row with vote rival”, was inaccurate because it reported that police had produced a report clearing the other candidate – the blogger Tim Ireland – of having harassed her on different occasions in the past.
She said that the document on which the paper was relying, which Ireland obtained under data protection laws, only took into account the professional view of a single officer, covered a limited period and was difficult to understand because it was heavily redacted.
But the regulator sided with the paper, which – it said – was entitled to rely on a document it had verified was genuine and which supported its story. It welcomed the paper’s assurances that it intended to publish a further story making clear that no further action was being taken against Dorries after the police investigation.
