The Press Complaints Commission has rejected a complaint against The Guardian for publishing a column by Chris Huhne – whose Guardian contract has now been terminated – commenting on the jailing of Constance Briscoe.

The PCC, which was this week replaced by the Independent Press Standards Organisation, investigated after a member of the public claimed the paper had breached clause 16 (payments to criminals) of the Editors' Code of Practice.

Huhne, a former Guardian journalist and cabinet minister, spent two months in prison last year for perverting the course of justice.