David Dillon had been called to a meeting with Sir Lindsay Hoyle after running a story widely condemned as sexist
Angela Rayner has accused Tory MPs of spreading ‘desperate, perverted smears’ about her by claiming she has sought to distract the prime minister provocatively in the Commons.Angela Rayner has accused Tory MPs of spreading ‘desperate, perverted smears’ about her by claiming she has sought to distract the prime minister provocatively in the Commons.Last modified on Wed 27 Apr 2022 04.45 BST
The Mail claimed Dillon and the Mail on Sunday’s political editor Glen Owen, whose byline appeared next to the story, had rejected the Speaker’s invitation to a meeting on Wednesday “in the name of a free press”.In response to Hoyle, Dillon said journalists should “not take instruction in the House of Commons, however august they may be”, adding that the newspaper “deplores sexism and misogyny in all its forms”.
The Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, the chair of the women and equalities committee, wrote to Hoyle asking him to consider revoking the Commons pass of the piece’s author.Speaking before the meeting was rejected, he said: “I am a staunch believer and protector of press freedom, which is why when an MP asked me to remove the pass of a sketch writer last week for something he had written, I said ‘no’.