\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was Trumpian,\u201d said Mark Mansfield, editor and CEO of Nation.Cymru, a small English-language Welsh news service. \u201cIt has perhaps given us a flavour of how a Reform UK government would behave towards the media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mansfield is referring to what he described as an attempt by a figure at Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK party to \u201cbully\u201d his publication, but he believes a wider lesson might be learned.<\/p>\n
On 12 November, Nation.Cymru published an article when Reform\u2019s only Welsh parliament member, Laura Anne Jones, was banned from the Senedd chamber for 14 days after using a racial slur to describe Chinese people.<\/p>\n
The news website named Ed Sumner, now head of communications at Reform, as being one of the recipients of the offensive WhatsApp messages while working for her in August 2023.<\/p>\n
Sumner\u2019s name had been redacted in a Senedd report on the subject, but as Nation.Cymru had exposed the story \u2013 revealing the existence of the WhatsApp messages in the first place a year earlier, and having named Sumner at the time \u2013 the news service chose to name him again.<\/p>\n
On the day of publication, they received a letter from Adam Richardson, a barrister from 4-5 Gray\u2019s Inn Square chambers, who said he was representing Sumner.<\/p>\n
He accused the news service of \u201cmisuse of private information\u201d and \u201cbreach of confidence\u201d, as well as breach of the editors\u2019 code.<\/p>\n
The news service was given two days to take Sumner\u2019s name out of the article, otherwise Richardson said he had been instructed to commence proceedings and pursue damages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were surprised really, because Reform hates us but they haven\u2019t actually threatened us before,\u201d said Mansfield.<\/p>\n
As well as representing individual clients through his chambers, Richardson additionally works for the Reform UK national party, describing himself as a \u201cbarrister for Reform\u201d.<\/p>\n
Despite the legal letter from Richardson, Mansfield said he was having none of it.<\/p>\n
No, was the response to Richardson\u2019s demand. But that was not the end of the matter.<\/p>\n
A second letter from Richardson that day said his client would now seek \u201caggravated damages\u201d if Sumner\u2019s name was not removed, Mansfield said.<\/p>\n
Legal precedents cited by Richardson included that of the supermodel Naomi Campbell\u2019s successful privacy claim in 2004 against the Daily Mirror when she was photographed as she came out of a Narcotics Anonymous clinic.<\/p>\n
Mansfield responded again with a refusal. More emails came, said Mansfield, who accused Richardson of seeking to \u201cbully into silence a small Welsh news outlet\u201d. Richardson denied that in his subsequent letter, Mansfield said.<\/p>\n
Mansfield asked Richardson whether he also acted for Reform UK.<\/p>\n
That was irrelevant, Richardson responded, who suggested Mansfield get independent legal advice.<\/p>\n
On 19 November, Mansfield\u2019s news service published a new story, headlined: \u201cReform UK barrister tries to bully NationCymru into removing top party official\u2019s name from story\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mansfield said the line of communication had gone quiet since.<\/p>\n
A Reform source said: \u201cNation Cymru is a far-left Welsh nationalist blog pretending to be an honest media outlet. They make the Guardian look like a rightwing paper. They have broken the editors\u2019 code numerous times and lack any journalistic standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
The press regulator, Ipso, has received five complaints against Nation.Cymru since 2022. Only one of those, regarding comments attributed to a planning officer, was upheld on the grounds of accuracy.<\/p>\n
Richardson described Mansfield\u2019s characterisation of his approach as \u201cinaccurate\u201d and rejected any suggestion of \u201cbullying\u201d, adding that the Nation.Cymru editor had displayed an \u201cunusual amount of personal animus in response to a prescribed legal process on behalf of a client\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the avoidance of doubt, the matter had nothing to do with Reform UK\u2019s broader media approach, nor did it concern any attempt to inhibit legitimate reporting,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Questions are being asked, though: is Reform, riding high in the polls, taking a more aggressive approach to the media?<\/p>\n
Mansfield\u2019s description of his experience as \u201cTrumpian\u201d chimes with that of the publisher of the Nottingham Post and its website Nottinghamshire Live, after the nearly 150-year-old paper was barred from speaking to the council\u2019s leader and removed from media mailing lists by the Reform-led Nottinghamshire county council. The council only relented last month after being threatened with legal action.<\/p>\n
The Independent\u2019s political editor, David Maddox, wrote in September that he had been warned by an unnamed senior member of Reform\u2019s leadership team that the Independent would be banned from its events if the news website did not change a critical story or the tone of its questions and coverage. They did not follow through on the threat, Maddox added.<\/p>\n
Last March, the BBC felt forced to apologise to Reform after describing it as \u201cfar-right\u201d. \u201cThere are very significant implications of calling a political party, and by implication, its leader and senior leadership team, far-right,\u201d said the party\u2019s deputy leader, Richard Tice, who had previously championed free speech. \u201cIt is that which is defamatory and libellous. That is why they have apologised immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, it has been Richardson \u2013 as a \u201cbarrister for Reform\u201d \u2013 who has been communicating with the Guardian as the party\u2019s legal representative regarding the newspaper\u2019s intention to publish claims made about Nigel Farage by multiple school contemporaries of his at Dulwich College.<\/p>\n
After the Guardian first put the claims to Reform UK, Richardson described the allegations of racist and antisemitic behaviour as \u201cwholly untrue\u201d and a \u201cgrave and actionable libel\u201d.<\/p>\n
After reflecting on Richardson\u2019s response, the Guardian put further allegations to him.<\/p>\n
A final response from Richardson warned that if \u201cthe Guardian proceeds to publish any allegation suggesting that Mr Farage engaged in, condoned, or led racist or antisemitic behaviour, or that such claims bear upon his present character or fitness for office, proceedings will be issued without further notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Guardian published an article of about 3,700 words on 18 November with the headline: \u201c\u2018Deeply shocking\u2019: Nigel Farage faces fresh claims of racism and antisemitism at school.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Reform spokesperson told reporters in Westminster that the story was denied. \u201cIt\u2019s one person\u2019s word against another,\u201d they said. Asked whether the party would sue the Guardian, he responded: \u201cNot at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
It might be reasonably be argued that the deployment of legal threats is just a sign that Reform UK is a party that is serious about power. A Reform UK spokesperson said: \u201cReform engages far and wide with media and journalists. Additionally, Nigel Farage answers more questions from the media every week than any other party leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as journalists are fully within their rights to criticise our elected officials, Reform are completely justified in pushing back against untrue and unbalanced coverage. This is the basis for a healthy, functioning democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Mansfield, though, there is another way to see it, as he explained on his news site: \u201cIt seems free speech only exists for people who agree with them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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