The Leveson Inquiry

Overview

In July 2011, in the aftermath of revelations that News of the World journalists had hacked the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, Prime Minister David Cameron announced a public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press. Chaired by Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson, it became the most searching examination of press conduct and press regulation in British history.

The Inquiry was split into two parts. Part 1 examined press culture, practices and ethics, and the press's relationship with the public, politicians and police — running from November 2011 to July 2012, hearing from 337 witnesses, and publishing its report in November 2012. Part 2 was intended to examine the extent of unlawful conduct within News International and other groups, and how thoroughly police investigated it — including any corrupt relationships between press and police. Because criminal prosecutions were ongoing, Part 2 was postponed indefinitely, and in March 2018 the Government confirmed it would never take place.

Key facts

• The Inquiry heard oral evidence from 337 witnesses during Part 1
• Witnesses included phone hacking victims Hugh Grant, Charlotte Church and Sienna Miller, the Dowler family, the McCanns, and Christopher Jefferies
• The final Report ran to almost 2,000 pages and made wide-ranging recommendations for independent, effective press self-regulation
• Part 2 — intended to examine police corruption and cover-ups — has never taken place

What the Report found

Lord Justice Leveson concluded that the existing system of press self-regulation, the Press Complaints Commission, had failed the public and needed to be replaced by a genuinely independent regulator — backed by incentives and penalties set out in law, without amounting to government or political control of the press. His central recommendation was a new self-regulator, independently audited by a body established via Royal Charter, offering genuinely low-cost arbitration for victims of press abuse.

What happened next

• October 2013: The cross-party Royal Charter was approved, creating the Press Recognition Panel to certify whether any new regulator meets Leveson's criteria
• 2014: IPSO launches, funded by the industry — but never seeks recognition under the Royal Charter
• March 2016: Impress becomes the first, and remains the only, press regulator certified as Leveson-compliant
• 2018: Government confirms Part 2 will not go ahead
• 2024: Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 — designed to incentivise joining a recognised regulator — is formally repealed, having never been brought into force

Why this matters today

More than a decade later, the central promise of Leveson — independent, effective press regulation with genuine accountability — remains unfulfilled. IPSO, the regulator most national papers chose, has never sought recognition. Section 40 has been repealed. Part 2 was cancelled. The victims who gave evidence, often at real personal cost, are still waiting for the reforms they were promised.