by Sunder Katwala

The Telegraph reports on its front-page that “a Cabinet minister is ready to take legal action to halt a series of increasingly lurid but baseless rumours sweeping Westminster over his sexuality … Friends of the minister have warned that he will not hesitate to take “action” should unfounded allegations that he is homosexual, which are circulating on the internet, appear in mainstream media”.

This identity would be considerably more closely guarded from Telegraph readers if the newspaper had not already placed itself at the forefront of those using online sources to spread innuendo with the subtlety of a brick in its Mandrake diary column on Wednesday.



Then, the Telegraph was quoting a Freedom of Information request from Paul Staines, blogging as Guido Fawkes, who has led the online charge, slightly bizarrely claiming that answering it “amounted to an official inquiry”. Paul Dacre’s Mail titles have also shown some interest since the weekend.

It now appears the minister is seeking to warn newspapers not to follow up the online reports. It is not entirely clear whether the route would involve injunctions (which could well prove counter-productive) or rather threats of subsequent PCC or legal action against false or libellous reporting.

It might simply be that the generic threat and strength of denial are intended to provide an effective deterrent to reporting in mainstream outlets of rumours and innuendos which the minister dismisses as simple falsehoods.

It is a strategy which depends on maintaining the rather blurred boundaries between news outlets, blogs and social media; the dilemma being how to deny the rumours most effectively without fuelling them further.

The Guido Fawkes blog has just come top of Total Politics’ libertarian blogs category. The enthusiasm with which it would seek to “out” a Minister perhaps sits oddly with that. (Whether it does so erroneously in this case, while important, is not the central point there).

Staines has also again proved willing to host long threads spattered with homophobic comments – some very vile – on his blog. No doubt he would offer a free speech defence of that.

It might reasonably be questioned whether that fully addresses the enthusiasm with which they are encouraged and in effect celebrated – such as with special caption competitions in effect offering a green light to further rounds of homophobic comments. (I’m not calling for Staines to be banned from doing this: we are simply publicly criticising him for being willing to so actively encourage homophobic attitudes, when these are thankfully much more marginal than they were a decade ago).

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Note: the article was edited to remove any mention of the minister in question.