Boris Johnson hiding from journalists in a fridge before the 2019 elections.
Piers Morgan has described proposals to hand journalists jail sentences for embarrassing the government as “outrageous but unsurprising”.
The former Good Morning Britain host, who saw the government boycott the show for 201 days in 2020 and even witnessed the prime minister hide in a fridge in order to swerve an interview with him, hit out at plans to reform the Official Secrets Act which could result in journalists being treated like foreign spies.
The 1989 act is being updated to take into account the impact of the internet age, especially in the area of speedy data transfer.
Human rights organisations and the Law Commission, which drew up the proposals, say there should be a ‘public interest defence’ included to prevent the prosecution of journalists who receive leaked documents.
But in a paper released for the consultation, the Home Office said such a move would ‘undermine our efforts to prevent damaging unauthorised disclosures, which would not be in the public interest’.
Morgan joined a number of people on social media condemning the moves.
He said: “I think it’s absolutely outrageous but unsurprising from a Govt that thinks it’s OK to boycott news shows if they ask tough questions.”
Reaction elsewhere was similarly fierce. Here’s what people had to say:
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