Would a new Tory government defy the wishes of the Murdochs and press ahead with introducing custodial sentences for convictions under the Data Protection Act?
       In early 2008, when the Labour government was about to enact a new Criminal Justice and Immigration bill, they were heavily leaned on by newspaper bosses, principally News International, to strike out Clause 77, which made persons found guilty of offences under the 1998 DPA liable to a term of imprisonment. The papers claimed that this would unreasonably restrain their journalists (despite the important provision of a public interest defence for bona fide investigative journalists).
       Mr Brown, whom the Sun newspaper still purported to support at the time, caved in quickly and the clause, while not entirely removed from the bill, was relegated to the status of a mere order-making power, which simply gives the Justice Secretary the power ask Parliament (and other interested parties) at some later date if they wanted it activated.
Since the Sun declared last September for the other side (for all the help that may be), Mr Brown’s Justice Department announced the following month that it was launching a consultation paper with a view to reporting its conclusions on January 31st, and, if positive, putting the new DPA custodial penalties in place in April – this month. The results of the consultation have not been published and there is no sign that this important deterrent to data theft, especially by tabloid journalists seeking private details of celebrities’ lives, will ever be put on the statute book. In any case, in a month’s time there may be a Conservative Justice Secretary in place.
How easy would it be for him to pick up where Jack Straw left off and ignore the wishes of the Conservatives’ friends in Fleet Street?
The Shadow Justice Secretary since January 2009 has been Dominic Grieve. His relationship with News International is unclear. A rumour surfaced in the Observer last year that News International boss, Rebekah Brooks told her old chum and the Tories’ Director of Communications, Andy Coulson that they wouldn’t support the Tories unless Grieve was replaced as Home Secretary. “There is little doubt that the Sun’s support will give Murdoch leverage over a Conservative government, and that power is already being used,” the Observer added. This is a fuzzy story, since Grieve left the Shadow Home Office job in January ’09 when he became Shadow Justice Secretary, and Rebekah Brooks wasn’t elevated to her job as CEO of News International until September ’09 – unless, of course, Rebekah and the Tories had been pow-wowing for over 9 months before the deal was done.
However, there is clearly some lack of harmony between NI and the potential new Justice Secretary. In response to my enquiry as to whether, if he is the New Justice Secretary after May 6^th, he would continue the consultation process over Clause 77 or abandon it, he said: “We agree with the Information Commissioner that custodial penalties should be available for deliberate or reckless misuse of personal data. The law provides the possibility of a defence for responsible journalism undertaken in the public interest and the Information Commissioner has advised that this defence should be made available.”
It looks as though under a new Tory government, there is at least one piece of the News International agenda that won’t be adhered to, if Grieve is given the Justice Department – in spite of the Murdoch’s wishes.

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