The Sun rinsed for ‘substantial damages’ in civil settlement

The Sun newspaper has yet again agreed to pay through the nose because of its past reporting. In this instance, they’ve apologised to Christopher Jefferies and paid him “substantial damages”.

Despite this happening fairly frequently, Keir Starmer has abandoned completing the Leveson 2 inquiry into press standards. It would be pretty awkward if he didn’t, of course, given the fact that he occasionally writes for the Sun now.

The damages done

As reported by the BBC, the police wrongfully arrested Jefferies for the murder of Joanna Yeates in 2010. This case ended up being a textbook example of why journalists should wait to know what’s happening before publishing front pages like the following:

Jefferies said the reporting “had a damaging and long-lasting effect on him and his private life, including his standing in the community and to his relationships with some friends”.

It wasn’t bad journalism which landed the Sun‘s publisher in hot water, however, it was the accusation that the Sun and the News of the World intercepted Jefferies’ voicemails. As the BBC writes:

NGN agreed damages but made “no admission of liability in relation to the claimant’s allegations of voicemail interception and/or other unlawful information gathering at The Sun”, the court was told.

While they’re accepting no liability, many will of course see they payout as an admission of guilt. This is especially the case given the fact that this keeps happening:

🚨 The Sun loses £66m amid costs from phone-hacking scandal pic.twitter.com/b9DEDkaYIX

— Jason Reid (@JasonReidx) April 9, 2024

Prince Harry just won substantial damages as his privacy case against the Murdoch press concluded. Remarkably, outlets like The Sun and The Times have been unusually kind to Harry & Meghan lately, running sympathetic columns and even glossing over criticism from US media!… pic.twitter.com/GYj0300CJg

— Private Eye Magazine (@PrivateEyeNews) January 22, 2025

Will anything change?

Back in the 2010s, the ‘phone hacking scandal’ prompted politicians to finally take a look at the UK’s corporate-captured media. Unfortunately, however, Labour have back-pedalled on any commitment to tackle this filthy industry. Here’s what James Wright wrote for the Canary in 2024:

Rupert Murdoch family-owned News UK received “private assurances” that Keir Starmer’s Labour Party government would not carry out an inquiry into press standards, according to iNews. News UK-owned titles the Sun and the Sunday Times then endorsed Starmer, once they’d gotten assurances that Leveson 2 would not go ahead.

Leveson 2 is the would-be second part of the Leveson Inquiry into press standards. The first part was launched in 2011. That’s after Murdoch-owned and now defunct News of the World had been found to be hacking phones.

The second part would look further into the relationship between the press and the police to see if there’s complicity in transgressions.

Starmer who once said he’d never write for the Scum and then did, will now block the next stages of the leveson inquiry.
Payback for Murdochs backing. 🤮 pic.twitter.com/DpXcqXMpD6

— Justintime (@tykestakeonit) July 22, 2024

When Starmer ran for the Labour leadership, he said he wouldn’t give interviews to the Sun – not least because of the Hillsborough scandal. Starmer would later clarify this position (i.e. ‘go back on his word’):

‘I certainly won’t be giving any interviews to The Sun during the course of THIS campaign!’ is definitely the funniest dishonest thing Starmer has said – you have to admire the brazenness. ‘Oh you thought I meant generally? No, literally this campaign.’
pic.twitter.com/DKTDgBz7ZB

— Jon Stone (@joncstone) October 2, 2021

He’d then make things even worse:

🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer has ABANDONED plans to strengthen press regulation, with Labour saying it will not revive a second stage of the Leveson Inquiry.

Starmer is also refusing to oppose the Tories’ plans to further weaken press regulation.

(Via The Guardian) pic.twitter.com/zGrZh23d6h

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) December 17, 2023

Starmer didn’t just speak to the Sun, either; he actually started writing for them. Victims of the Hillsborough disaster criticised Starmer, and yet he’s continued his writing gig even after becoming prime minister. No doubt he thinks this is smart politics, but he would wouldn’t he, given the fact that he’s the guy to have taken Labour to its worst polling ever:

15% is the lowest that Labour have EVER polled in the history of British political polling.

Previous low was… September 2025 (16%). https://t.co/y2aXHpC6RV

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) October 16, 2025

🚨 AVERAGE | PM’s approval hits record low 🤣

✅ Approve – 19% (-1)
❌ Disapprove – 62% (+1)

Starmer’s net approval (-43) is now worse than Sunak during GE24 (-38) and Corbyn during GE19 (-35). pic.twitter.com/WfzXcl8qvb

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) September 12, 2025

‼️ CONFIRMED | Keir Starmer suffered worst defeat of any new PM on record, losing 65% of Labour’s seats.

In 1977, just two years before being evicted from power, Labour lost 48% of the council seats it was defending. Starmer just lost a whopping **65%** 😱😱 pic.twitter.com/SVZ1zDGRq5

— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️‍⚧️ (@LeftieStats) May 4, 2025

You can read more on this in Paul Holden’s The Fraud:

Here’s Keir Starmer in 2020 lying to Labour’s membership about supporting Jeremy and not giving interviews to the sun.

Paul Holden’s NEW book, The Fraud, details how Starmer and his chief of staff LIED their way into Downing Street.pic.twitter.com/ArfVhTiWPK

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) October 13, 2025

Pay outs

Newspapers like the Sun have been facing operating losses for years, and this isn’t helped by payouts like this one. The fact that the Sun doesn’t make money has led many to speculate that it’s only kept operational for its value as propaganda machine. We can’t confirm that, of course, but we can say it’s not because of their world class journalism.

Featured image via PickPik / Hudson Institute (Wikimedia)