Kelvin says “hit ‘em where it hurts”

Former Sun editor and dysfunctional moral guardian Kelvin MacKenzie today entertained the Leveson inquiry with his bullshit bullish outlook on madcap matters in the news industry.

At times his evidence session was like one of those artless reality shows where a washed-up comedian is put through a series of mild indignities in unfamiliar surroundings. But the Grub Street man showed himself unrepentant and irredeemable with his embarrassingly dated, offensive material – plus an excruciating John Major impersonation.

MacKenzie, who has a spot of previous in relation to misrepresentation did however display disarming honesty when asked by Robert Jay QC whether he had any regard for privacy while editor. He answered: "Not really, no."

His most useful contribution to an otherwise uninformative ego-fest was to urge the inquiry to recommend the introduction of statutory fines for newspapers that failed to meet standards set by the PCC or whatever organisation replaced it.

Mr MacKenzie did little to endear himself to the inquiry or those who have been urging a curb on media excesses. He tried hard to live up to his reputation of being an in-your-face example of the old school where journalism is little more than erudite thuggery. So much so that he had already lost his audience by the time he came to make his telling comment that the perception of what was in the public interest differed depending on which newspaper published a story.

Then again, this is the same man who when confronted about the number of stories he had manufactured in the past, including the accusation that Liverpool fans had stolen items from the dead at Hillsborough said: “When I published those stories, they were not lies. They were great stories that later turned out to be untrue — and that is different. What am I supposed to feel ashamed about?”

Opinion will remain divided as to whether it was a highlight or a low point in the proceedings so far. But it did serve to bring to mind the comments of a contemporary who once observed: "Kelvin likes to have his 15 minutes. The only trouble is that its always the same bloody 15 minutes".