The Sun has apologised to Gordon Brown for reporting that he used Parliamentary privilege to accuse the paper of “blagging” his son's medical records.
The former Prime Minister had complained to the Press Complaints Commission under Clause 1 (accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice.
He said claims made by Trevor Kavanagh that he said the paper had “blagged” his son’s medical records were inaccurate, arguing he had not said this in Parliament or anywhere else.
According to the PCC, The Sun also falsely claimed that this led to doubts being raised about his state of mind. Its conclusion was that “he was not telling the whole story”.
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The newspaper agreed to publish an apology in print and on its website.
It said: “In Trevor Kavanagh’s column of 12 November, it was stated that Gordon Brown accused The Sun of blagging his son’s medical records.
“In fact, Mr Brown has never made such an accusation, in Parliament or otherwise.
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“We were wrong to use this erroneous allegation as a basis to make comments about his character and integrity and to suggest that Mr Brown was ‘not telling the full story’.
“We withdraw these criticisms and apologise to Mr Brown.”
The Sun has also removed the allegations from its online story and posted this note at the foot of the article:
“This article when originally published also made reference to Gordon Brown. Following a complaint to the PCC it was amended and an agreed apology can be seen at the following link – https://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4840477/Gordon-Brown-Apology.html.”
Richard Caseby, managing editor of the Sun, said: "I'm pleased that Mr Brown is now finally on record confirming he has never accused the Sun of illegally accessing his son's medical record."
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