Allegations are flying around concerning my relations with the family in the book 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. Could I make absolutely clear that though I did earlier state that I did not try to hack into the phone of the father in the story, this is not in the full sense of the word 'try' strictly true. I would now like to take this opportunity to state clearly that I did ask a member of the best police force in the world to 'ping' me the whereabouts of the father so that I could hear if he was talking to someone on his phone. I can also now declare that in order to receive this information money did pass hands. As many people know, the mother in 'Bear Hunt' is not present and this is of great public interest. I therefore thought that I was being a good journalist by trying to find out if a) the father was talking to his wife b) this wife was or was not the mother of the children or c)if the father was in another relationship altogether d) if the father is gay.
Another aspect of this case is that 'Bear Hunt' has come to the attention of the Department for Education. Whereas in the past I have stated that I have no relations with ministers and officials from the Department,I would now like to state quite clearly that I am a close social companion of several of them. I would now like to declare that I have also been able to make available to several of these acquaintances facilities at health clubs.
In relation to all these matters, my earlier statement 'It wasn't me who did it, it was the Bear', was not strictly accurate.
Of course I am massively embarrassed by all of this, I deeply regret the distress that I have caused the family who appear in 'Bear Hunt', my journalistic colleagues, my friends in government and of course my highly esteemed friends in the finest police force in the world.
That said, I would like to make it clear that I think that there should be limits on just how far this whole soul-searching matter can go on. I have seen fine, upstanding officers, politicians and journalists being broken on the wheel of political correctness here. I think it is time that some of us stood up and be counted: are we in favour of a great corporation that has brought joy to millions or are we snivelling, pc, femmo, lezbo, poofter, trot, muslims bringing down the greatest country that has ever been known?
Have we really reached a point where people like me are going to have to go to jail for this?
The campaign 'Free the News International Hundreds (and their cop friends)' is already collecting funds in the likely event of incarceration. Please contribute.
