Early day motion · EDM 968 · 8 Feb 2022

Moderation in parliamentary language and coverage

Tabled by Sir Peter Bottomley (Conservative) 4 signatures

The motion

That this House notes that the Prime Minister, in a sentence about prejudging a police inquiry, used the words, failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile (Official Report, 31 January 2022, col. 26); recalls Operation Elveden; notes with approval the action by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 2012 to commission a report from Alison Levitt QC into why Savile was not prosecuted after allegations in Surrey and Sussex; notes that the Levitt report worked from police records, regretting that CPS files were deleted automatically in 2010; accepts the finding of that report that there was nothing to suggest that the decisions not to prosecute were consciously influenced by any improper motive on the part of either police or prosecutors; accepts the words of the DPP in January 2013 when he apologised for the shortcomings in the part played by the CPS in those cases; asks the political leaders to meet to end the disproportionate effect of the words; asks broadcasters to moderate the way they report the incident; and unites in condemning street protestors who should allow all hon Members and others to walk in safety and freedom.

Source: the official Early Day Motions database.