Sir Simon Hughes outside the Rolls Building in London in 2021. Picture: PA Media
Former Lib Dem MP Sir Simon Hughes has spoken out about how his private life became a target for tabloid reporting after he was “outed” as gay by The Sun.
And he said was moved to sue Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) after being shown emails and payment records suggesting convicted phone hacker Greg Miskiw was employed by the Mail publisher to target him.
The former deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats is one of seven people – including Prince Harry , Sir Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Liz Hurley and Sadie Frost – suing ANL over allegations of unlawful information gathering.
In his witness statement, Hughes said he was contacted by Sun political editor Trevor Kavanagh on 26 January 2006. At the time Hughes was favourite in the race to be the new Lib Dem leader.
He said: “Mr Kavanagh told me that The Sun had obtained evidence of private telephone calls by me which showed that I had called a gay chatline and that the paper had the intention to ‘out’ me. Although I thought then, and still believe, that my sexuality is a private matter, and that I had committed no offence, I believed that The Sun would publish an article with or without my agreement.
“As a result, I felt I had no choice but to cooperate. I did not then and nor do I now believe that on becoming a member of the House of Commons I ever waived my right to a private life, nor that my position in parliament gave journalists or third parties instructed by them justification to use unlawful means to target me in the pursuit of finding private information to publish.”
Hughes continued: “As a result of my co-operation with Mr Kavanagh, a front-page article was published in The Sun newspaper on the following day, 27 January, entitled ‘I’m Gay too’, stating that I had confirmed that I had had relationships with men as well as women. Unsurprisingly, the story was also then of interest to many other newspapers, and a massive number of other articles were published in the months that followed.”
Sir Simon won a privacy payout over phone-hacking against him by the News of the World in 2012.
Sir Simon Hughes says Mail targeting was ‘distressing’
ANL contends that the Hughes privacy claim is out of time because he knew about allegations against the Mail publisher more than six years before suing.
But Hughes said he first became aware of evidence he was the target of illegal newsgathering by the Mail in 2022. He said he was presented with evidence which “clearly implicated” ANL in the form of emails exchanged between former Mail on Sunday executive Chris Anderson and Greg Miskiw (who was then a freelance).
He said he was shown a payment record from the Mail on Sunday to Miskiw for Sadie Frost and Simon Hughes stories.
Hughes said: “It is distressing to realise – having seen the evidence and disclosure provided by Associated – that, like other newspapers, Associated targeted me as well as others using unlawful means and the use of private investigators for the purposes of their own profit.
“The fact that they have remained completely unapologetic for this illegal behaviour is also distressing.”
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