‘Lord David’ new head of UK press watchdog

LONDON: A former government minister was named as the new head of Britain's press watchdog on Thursday after his predecessor stepped down amid criticism the "toothless" body had failed to properly deal with phone-hacking allegations.

Lord David Hunt, a lawyer who served in the cabinet of Conservative governments of the early 1990s, will take over as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) on Oct. 17, the watchdog announced.

He takes over as politicians call for a complete overhaul or even abolition of the PCC, a self-regulatory body, following claims it had done nothing to address the hacking allegations at the now defunct News of the World newspaper.

When the scandal engulfed Rupert Murdoch's News Corp media empire in July, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the PCC was "busted" and needed to be replaced, while opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband has called it a "toothless poodle".

Former chairman Baroness Peta Buscombe announced her intention to resign during the outcry and Lord Hunt echoed her departing views that there should be independent, non-statutory self-regulation of the press.

"I have no desire to live in a country where the legitimate, lawful investigative activities of the press are fettered at the whim of politicians," he said in a statement.

"There is a real appetite for change, however, and it is my intention to drive forward the creation of a reinvigorated and respected standards body, funded by the industry but operationally independent from both the industry and the state."

At an inquiry into press standards set up by Prime Minister David Cameron following growing outrage about phone-hacking, editors accused politicians of going too far in their response to the scandal.

They said the government and Cameron, who had desperately sought in the past to win Murdoch's approval, were now attempting to clamp down on the press to hide their own embarrassment.

Copyright Reuters, 2011