Our response to MP Lee Anderson's dangerous attack on journalism

WHY HIS CLAIMS OF MEDIA BIAS ARE UNFOUNDED

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

IF there's one politician I have written about more than any other since I started this job, it is unquestionably the Ashfield MP Lee Anderson.

As an elected representative on our patch, he's a man I would have expected to frequently report on anyway.

Recent weeks though have seen me put finger to keyboard about Mr Anderson for something that may seem trivial on the face of it he keeps picking fights with us. This week, he’s ramped it up a gear and the reason it is far from trivial is because of the dangerous attitude he is fomenting against journalists and the scrutiny of politicians in general.

The MP was on holiday last week and said he wouldn't be posting on Facebook again until Monday, when he said when he was back in Blighty. Yet our reporting seems to have roused him from his deckchair.

The spur for his attack was a story we published on Thursday May 29 which stated the estimated cost of the Newark West county council by-election.

We would not usually cover the cost of a by-election as they are certainly not a rarity in British politics.

Yet this one was different given it was called after one of Reform’s new councillors stepped down six days into the role. Little was given in the way of explanation and the unusual circumstances led us to ask for an estimated cost to the taxpayer of this move.

We had a figure given to us by the local council of up to £25,000. The facts alone are clearly in the public interest and, to accompany the story, we gave opposition parties the chance to issue a comment.