There was a ritual confrontation between two closely related but different species of legal beast this morning in the House of Commons. The arena was Committee Room 8, and the ringmaster was John Whittingdale, Conservative MP and chairman of the Culture Media and Sport Committee.

The High Court – especially Mr Justice Eady – was busy last year with a string of high profile libel and privacy cases which, while filling many pages of newsprint, both grown-up and tabloid, showed up a few weaknesses (or strengths, depending on who you’re batting for) in the current state of British media law. The committee, sensitive to public disquiet over these unresolved legal anomalies, announced last November that they would be holding an Inquiry into Press Standards, Privacy and Libel.

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