Parts one and two of MediaGuido’s Impress File told how the state-endorsed press regulator wants to ban the Daily Mail and financially ruin the Sun and Express. Today we bring you part three, revealing that senior figures at Impress have a pathological hatred of the newspapers they want to regulate. 

Paul Wragg is a legal academic at Leeds University and member of Impress’ Code Committee. He has shared a tweet saying: “I don’t know whether I exactly love Britain but I do know that I hate the Daily Mail”, adding in his own words: “I couldn’t agree more.” How can Impress reasonably regulate the newspaper industry when one of its most senior officials says he hates one of its most popular newspapers?

Likewise, Máire Messenger Davies – Impress Code Committee and Board of Directors member – openly spouts hatred of the Mail. She has promoted social media posts calling the Mail “Total scum” and its editor Paul Dacre “evil“. Her unhinged attacks on Dacre are personal in nature: she shared a mock up of a Mail front page with a picture of the editor next to the headline “This Hate Preacher Must be Stopped”. Why has the government given recognition to this bunch of cranks? It is demonstrably clear that the state press regulator is not fit for purpose…