The Independent Press Standards Organisation, which regulates most newspapers and magazines in the UK, has appointed a peer and former justice minister as its new chairman.
Edward Faulks QC will succeed Sir Alan Moses from 1 January next year. He was appointed to the House of Lords in 2010, but no longer takes the Conservative whip.
He served as justice minister for three years from 2013 and as a barrister specialises in human rights claims, personal injury, police claims and public law. He took silk in 1996.
Faulks said: “The freedom of the press is a crucial part of our democracy, but with that freedom comes responsibility.
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“The widely publicised abuses which led to the Leveson Report made it essential that there should be an independent and effective regulator, as IPSO is, to hold the press to account.
“I will work for those that feel wronged by the press, holding publishers to account to the standards encompassed in the Editors’ Code.”
Former appeal court judge Sir Alan earns £150,000 a year for the three-days-a-week job as chairman of IPSO.
Faulks’ appointment has been made by the IPSO Appointments Panel, which is independent of IPSO’s board and is chaired by Sir Hayden Phillips.
The other panel members are Wendy Harris, Jeremy Horner, Adrian Jeakings and Reach group editor-in-chief Lloyd Embley. Times editor John Witherow and ex-High Court judge Dame Laura Cox also advised on Faulks’ appointment.
Picture: Parliament
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