Press regulator IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) have rejected complaints from Tory MP Jonathan Djanogly and his wife Rebecca Silk over reports the pair treated a housekeeper “worse than a slave“. The reports, published in the Sunday Mirror and the Sunday Telegraph, contained similar allegations from other housekeepers who’d tidied up after Djanogly over the years. Djanogly and Silk claimed the coverage was unfair, because an employment tribunal “did not find the two claimants to be mistreated, let alone be slaves“, and it was inappropriate to air their dirty laundry in public. The pair insisted they’re squeaky clean…

IPSO binned the complaints anyway, ruling the “slave” allegations were “clearly distinguished” as subjective labels, rather than statements of objective fact. The dust-up has been dismissed entirely, with IPSO adding

“The Editors’ Code of Practice does not address issues of bias, nor omission. It makes clear the press has the right to report one side of events, as long as it takes care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, and to distinguish between comment, conjecture and fact.”

No doubt Djanogly will hope to sweep this under the rug…