This must have hurt. Guardian in Sun apology

The Guardian carries this apology to the Sun today:

"Articles in the Guardian of Tuesday 12 July incorrectly reported that the Sun newspaper had obtained information on the medical condition of Gordon Brown's son from his medical records. In fact the information came from a different source and the Guardian apologises for its error (The Brown files: How Murdoch papers targeted ex-PM's family, 12 July, page 1; When Brown decided that the Sun was out to destroy him politically, 12 July, page 2)."

The Sun has put the apology on its front page, one of the few times a hacking story has appeared on page one.

Sun fights back against Gordon Brown 'smear'

The Sun today claims allegations that it hacked into Gordon Brown's family medical records to reveal that his son had cystic fibrosis were "false and a smear".

And the paper suggests the former Prime Minister has a grudge against the paper because it switched to supporting the Tories at the last general election.

The Sun splashes on its defence and says: "We discovered the ex-PM's four-year-old son Fraser had cystic fibrosis months after his birth. We can reveal the source of our information was a shattered dad whose own son also has the crippling disease and who wanted to highlight the plight of sufferers.

"And when we approached former Labour leader Mr Brown and his wife Sarah with the story, she gave us their consent to run it."

The Sun also claims: "The dad, whose own son has cystic fibrosis, told the Sun about Fraser because he hoped to give the crippling condition a higher public profile.

"And he believed the fact that Mr Brown's family was coming to terms with it would do so."

The paper says it has a sworn affidavit from its source and has produced a video interview with the man in which his identity is disguised.

The Sun claims David Cameron "was also embarrassed last night after he hastily jumped on the bandwagon to back the false claims."

It adds that political commentators believe Brown has a "bitter grudge" against the Sun because it switched from Labour to back Cameron and the Tories at the last election.

It says former Sunday Times editor and BBC presenter Andrew Neil claimed Brown rang Mr Murdoch at the time of the switch in October 2009 to tell him: "I will destroy you."

Sun's Kavanagh bashes Beeb over hacking coverage

The Sun has been quite muted in its reporting of the phone hacking affair at its sister title the News of the World, but today the paper's associate editor Trevor Kavanagh has unleashed a broadside against the BBC over its coverage of the scandal.

Kavanagh writes: "What is thoroughly contemptible, though, is the posturing, high-minded and politically prejudiced BBC. This media monster, which blows £2.3BILLION a year in public money, is bound by charter to be impartial and is anything but.

"Its gleeful, vengeful and downright spiteful coverage of events over recent days is a disgrace. Not for nothing is the BBC known as the Blatantly Biased Corporation.

"Don't get me wrong. Nobody can justify or condone the crimes committed by former News of the World staff. They deserve the coverage they have received. Indeed, we are warned by our chief executive Rebekah Brooks that worse is to come.

"I don't know what these revelations will turn out to be. Nor does the BBC. But judging by the Corporation's bloodcurdling reports and commentaries, they must surely involve mass murder, rape and torture.

"Nothing other than a declaration of war would justify its round-the-clock analysis, interviews and breaking news on every radio, TV and internet outlet.

"All other news - and there was a lot of it around last week - was relegated to "fillers" between breathless, screeching "updates" from correspondents.

"The feeding frenzy was led each morning by Radio 4's increasingly hysterical Today programme. John Humphrys introduced an eye-popping chat about 'media barons' in the scary voice pantomime villains use to frighten children."

Kavanagh adds: "The BBC's tone - driven by its fear of competition from Sky TV - is not so much "comment" as a giant raspberry in the face of impartiality."

He dismisses the Guardian as: "A small circulation paper whose readers mostly work in the taxpayer-funded public sector. But its Left-wing views are amplified out of all proportion by the BBC who, with breathtaking arrogance, portray themselves as the Voice of Britain."

• The Sun estimates the last issue of the News of the World sold more than 4 million copies.

• A journalist friend was amazed to find an ad for Sky Broadband tumbling out of his Guardian Weekend magazine on Saturday. Shows there's no hard feelings?

U-Turn on sentencing: It was the Sun wot won it

The Sun claims victory today after it emerged that David Cameron has forced Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to scrap plans for 50% sentence discounts for early guilty pleas.

The Sun says: "The climbdown is a victory for The Sun's crusade against soft justice. Mr Clarke's humiliation means that in the nick of time thousands of criminals can now forget about serving only half their sentences just for owning up. And it marks a fresh victory for The Sun and our army of outraged readers. "

In May, the Sun admitted a first by agreeing with Labour leader Ed Miliband - that Clarke should be sacked for his comments on rape sentencing.

The Sun said in a leader, headlined 'Ken Must Go': "WELL done, Ed Miliband. Did The Sun really say that? Yes, we did. The Labour leader is quite right to demand that David Cameron sack Ken Clarke for his outrageous, offensive and prehistoric views on rape."

Sun dubs Panorama 'Scamorama' over 'fake' film

The Sun seems gleeful today in its coverage of the BBC having to apologise to Primark over using film in a Panorama programme about child labour being used to make cheap clothes that was, according to the BBC Trust, "more likely than not" faked.

I wonder if it's got anything to do with Panorama's investigation Tabloid Hacks Exposed which was broadcast in March.

It was billed by the BBC as "Panorama exposes the full extent of the 'dark arts' employed by journalists across the industry to get their story" and also looked at the phone-hacking scandal at the Sun's sister paper, the News of the World.

Primark has hit back at the BBC with its own site giving its side of the story.

Oh brother! Sun Giggs story makes you giddy

Trying to keep up with all the twists and turns in the Giggs' brothers sex saga is likely to put readers in a spin, judging by today's Sun front page.

Where's a privacy injunction when you really need one?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the Sun's 'Super-injunctionman' Colin Robertson on the helpline

The Sun reveals today that its TV biz editor Colin Robertson has a new role as "Super-injunctionman".

Celebs are urged to give "Super-injunctionman" a call and spill the beans about their private life rather than waste their cash on lawyers like Schillings and expensive injunctions.

The paper has also launched "the Sun super-injunction sweepstake kit" where you can bet on which legal gag will be lifted next.

Sun fails to get footballer's gagging order lifted

Lawyers acting for the Sun failed today to overturn a privacy injunction brought by a Premier League footballer to stop the paper writing about his private life.

The Sun reports: "A judge today refused to scrap a draconian injunction preventing The Sun from identifying the Prem star who romped with Big Brother's Imogen Thomas."

Before the hearing, a Sun spokesman said: "Following publication on the front page of a Scottish newspaper it is clear this injunction is unworkable.

"When the Prime Minister says on breakfast television that he knows the identity of the footballer, it is time for the courts to do the right thing and end a situation where readers of some newspapers but not others are allowed to know the worst kept secret in the country."

Sun will fight footballer gag in High Court today

The Sun will today attempt to mount a High Court challenge to lift the injunction banning the identification of a footballer who had an affair with Big Brother star Imogen Thomas.

The paper says it has instructed lawyers to ask the High Court to lift the gag on naming the Premier League player after a picture purporting to be him was splashed over the front page of the Sunday Herald in Scotland.

It adds: "The Sun is seeking a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice where we will ask a judge to allow us to name the player known in legal documents only as CTB. Our move comes after Prime Minister David Cameron today described the privacy rulings affecting newspapers as 'unsustainable' and 'unfair'."

The Sun also claims: "Yesterday's disclosures will make it virtually impossible for the footballer's highly-paid lawyers to argue his name is not already in the public domain."

TMZ: 'Botox Mom says she made up Sun story'

US celebrity news and gossip site TMZ says it has obtained a sworn declaration written by so-called "Botox Mom" Sheena Upton claiming she made up the story about injecting her daughter Britney with Botox after being approached by the Sun and says she was paid $200 for her story.

Upton claims she was asked "to play the role of Kerry Campbell" for a story called "I Give My 8-Year-Old Daughter Botox."

Upton now says "I was provided with the story, instructions and a script to follow for a recorded interview."

After the story ran in the Sun, Upton was approached by ABC News' "Good Morning America" and "Inside Edition" and claims she was offered "a large fee" to appear on camera. She went on both shows and re-told her story.

After the interview, child welfare officials took Upton's daughter away.

Upton now says in her declaration, "The truth is I have never given my daughter Botox, nor allowed her to get any type of waxing, nor is she a beauty pageant contestant."

A Sun representative told TMZ the paper "strongly denies any suggestion it solicited or knowingly published a false story regarding Kerry Campbell and her daughter."

They claimed the Sun received the story from a "reputable UK news agency" -- and the reporter from the agency "watched Ms. Campbell administering what appeared to be Botox to her daughter and provided compelling photographs."

According to TMZ, the Sun says it is considering legal action.

• TMZ has published emails from Upton which she claims show that her Botox story was scripted.
• ABC News says after the initial story appeared in the Sun, ABC News contacted the Sun's reporter for sources on the story and was put in touch with Alley Einstein, a features writer from a U.K. news agency who originally brought the story to the paper.
  ABC News proceeded with the story and agreed to license a series of photos from Einstein for $10,000, it says, Einstein confirmed to ABC News that Upton would receive no payment and signed a contract stating the photos depicted the events as they actually happened, without any staging or altering.
• Ally Einstein has given TMZ a statement.

Sun shocker: 'Ed Milliband is right' says leader

The Sun admits a first today by agreeing with Labour leader Ed Miliband - that Justice Secretary Ken Clarke should be sacked for his comments on rape sentencing.

The Sun says in a leader, headlined 'Ken Must Go':

"WELL done, Ed Miliband. Did The Sun really say that? Yes, we did. The Labour leader is quite right to demand that David Cameron sack Ken Clarke for his outrageous, offensive and prehistoric views on rape."

The leader goes on to say: "Labour is now tougher on crime than our Tory-led Government."

The Sun splash quotes the sex attack victim Gabrielle Browne, who spoke to Clarke when he made his controversial remarks on BBC Five Live yesterday, calling for him to be sacked. She has waived her legal right to anonymity.

Sun fires first salvo at Clarke in war on privacy law

The Sun today takes on Justice Secretary Ken Clarke (not one of its favourite politicians) over his suggestion that a privacy law may be needed.

In a leader headlined: 'Ken the Twit', the Sun says: "A privacy law is the last thing Britain needs. We are already the super-injunction capital of the world.

"It seems incredible that a minister wants to ban free speech as if we were some Stalinist dictatorship.

"But then, this is Ken Clarke - the confused old dinosaur who barely knows how to use his mobile but bumbles on about regulating Twitter.

"He probably thinks online is where where his shirts are hung out to dry.

"It's high time he was hung out to dry with them."

• More trouble ahead for Ken Clarke following his BBC Radio 5 Live interview today about sentences for rapists. Daniel Knowles blogs on the Telegraph: "How can he possibly survive this interview." Sun and mail will make interesting reading tomorrow.

Sun wins fight to name SAS soldier on sex charges

The Sun has named an SAS soldier who is to stand trial accused of sex offences against young girls - after the paper's lawyers challenged an injunction.

The Sun says: "Corporal Ian Tuckley, 31, is said to have preyed on victims as young as six.Tuckley was arrested late last year, but The Sun is only able to name him now after fighting an injunction.Someone in Britain's Special Forces community claimed key evidence at the June trial could not be shared in open court or it would threaten "national security".

"The move gave rise to accusations that they were not protecting their operations - but their reputation. And our campaigning lawyers had the decision overturned."

S & M: The Sun on Max Mosley's failed court bid

The Sun couldn't resist giving Max Mosley a spanking today in its report of how he lost his bid in the European Court to make newspapers warn people in advance if they were publishing stories about their private life.

The Sun intro reads: "FORMER Formula 1 chief Max Mosley was left licking his wounds yesterday after losing a £30,000 bid to gag the Press."

Cameron snubs Today programme in Sun interview

I thought all politicians had to listen to BBC Radio 4's Today programme every morning.

But according to an exclusive interview with David Cameron in the Sun today, the PM is not addicted to John Humphrys and co.

Sun political editor Tom Newton Dunn writes of Cameron's first year as PM: "One thing he has dumped is listening to all of Radio 4's Today programme.

"In a jibe at the BBC's flagship news show, the PM revealed: 'I tend to listen to the six o'clock headlines. But I don't listen to masses of the Today programme because I want to keep my sense of optimism as I go into the day!' "

Another Premier League player gags Sun in court

The Sun reports today that a married Premier League footballer has won a gagging order banning the paper from telling of his three-month fling with a model.

It claims the player called in lawyers after "we snapped him on his doorstep giving Kim West a kiss after a night of passion."

The Sun adds: "The star was terrified of his wife's reaction after we confronted him. And the High Court granted yet another injunction, the latest in a long line covering up celebs' bed-hopping antics."

MacKenzie tells Sun readers: 'Journalists know who is protected by injunctions but you don't'

Kelin MacKenzie tells readers of the Sun today that while he and "most media folk" know the names of the public figures protected by privacy injunctions the public don't.

He says: "There is currently a dangerous two track-society.

"There are those that know and I'm one of them. And there are those that are denied knowing and that's you, dear reader."

He suggests that somebody could set up a site in America to run all the names and allegations against the people the courts are protecting and the High Court couldn't touch them.

In a blast at the judges, Mackezie says: "There is a state in America that has a phrase summing up its attitude. It says: Live free or die.

"The High Court and its silk panty-wearing judges - hiding their own sexual peculiarities - have torn up the phrase.

"I despise them."

The Sun has a full page rundown on all the privacy injunctions granted to public figures under the headline: 'Doesn't it make you gag.'

They include a famous actor, tv star, top footballers, a soccer manager, various sportsmen and a tv journalist.

The latest injunction, according to the Sun is a married entertainer who has cheated on his wife with an actress and has left the show they both appeared in.

The Sun says: "Hypocritical showbiz stars, sports idols and high-profile public figures lap up positive publicity. And they often cash in on their popularity and wholesome image with mega salaries and huge fees from companies whose products they endorse.

"But when they misbehave and things turn sour, they go for the gag in order to protect false impressions - and their massive incomes."

Sun gagged by privacy injunctions from 'world famous' actor and Premiership footballer

The Sun has been gagged by two privacy injunctions stopping the paper naming an actor and a Premiership footballer while revealing details of their sex lives.

According to the Sun: "ONE of soccer star Wayne Rooney's vice girls has revealed she also bedded a married leading actor. The luvvie who romped with Helen Wood, 24, cannot be named after a judge gagged The Sun....A High Court judge said exposing his cheating would invade his privacy."

In the other case, the Sun says: "A PREMIER League star last night gagged The Sun after we found him romping with busty Big Brother babe Imogen Thomas behind his wife's back."

The existence of the gagging order involving the actor was first disclosed by the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, when newspapers were banned from naming either party or reporting why the order had been sought.

A High Court judge yesterday extended the injunction which protects the actor’s anonymity, but lifted a ban on naming Helen Wood and detailing the nature of her allegations.

The actor was described by Mr Justice King as “a world famous celebrity”.

The Sun links the two stories on its front page today with the headline: "Two Cheats Hide Behind The Law."

Sun goes to war with Cameron on defence cuts

The Sun today gives David Cameron the same front page treatment it gave the Labour government in August 2009 (top right) in strong criticism of defence cuts at a time when the armed forces are involved in actions in Libya and Afghanistan.

The Sun says on its front page: "David Cameron was blasted last night for hailing the bravery of RAF Top Guns over Libya - just as forces heroes were sacked back home."

In a leader it says: "David Cameron has embarked on his own Mission Impossible in trying to sell Britain the need for sharp troop reductions when we are fighting two wars... The spectacle of a Prime Minister slashing the Armed Forces even as he commits them to more fighting is utterly bizarre."

The Sun is encouraging comments from readers and suggesting the Government cuts its overseas aid budget rather than defence spending.

The 2009 Sun front page slammed Labour over its handling of the war in Afghanistan and urged Gordon Brown to sack defence secretary Bob Ainsworth.

Sun says Panorama used private eye it exposed

The Sun says today that a private eye accused by Panorama of illegal news gathering for the News of the World has claimed he also worked for the BBC programme.

Jonathan Rees was said by last night's BBC1 programme to have introduced a NoW executive to a computer hacker who then obtained sensitive emails from an Army intelligence officer.

But the Sun quotes Rees saying of the BBC: "I think the old adage pot, kettle, black is at play here." His lawyer said: "Mr Rees has worked as an inquiry agent for Panorama."

It is claimed by the Sun, part of the same News International group as the News of the World, that Rees worked for Panorama on at least two programmes in the early 1990s.

The BBC told the Sun said it was "not aware" Rees worked for Panorama, but said the programme had used private eyes.

The BBC has issued a statement: "Jonathan Rees claims to have worked on a Panorama film in the early 1990s but does not claim to have deployed then the sort of illegal practices exposed by last night’s programme.

"The BBC has searched archives dating back 25 years and can find no record of the programme he describes ever being broadcast. We have not been presented with any evidence by Mr Rees to back his claim and have also been unable to find any record of payments to Mr Rees or his company."

• The Sun's story is similar to one in today's Times, also a News International title, which is tagged "Exclusive: 'BBC hired accused detective'." The Times' story is behind a paywall.
• See also, The Observer: 'Why we used a private investigator.'