Yorkshire Evening
Post political editor Anne Alexander broke the story of the London
bomber who was given a tour of the Houses of Parliament last year.
During
a conversation with a contact about a separate story, she was tipped
off about West Yorkshire Labour MP Jon Trickett inviting the man
responsible for the Edgware Road bombing, Mohammad Sadique Khan, to the
Commons as a guest in his capacity as a learning mentor in a Leeds
school. She was given the information before chief whip Hilary Benn was
informed.
Alexander had less than an hour to turn the story
around for the Post’s second edition on Friday. She quickly phoned
another contact to back up the story, then called Trickett, who
confirmed it. He told her he and his family had known Khan for 17 years
because his wife was head teacher at the school where Khan had worked.
Alexander
said: “I think the reason Jon was so open was partly because, as a
regional journalist, he knows me very well, but also because Khan
hadn’t been on the radar when he invited him and had just seemed like a
normal guy.”
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