Sunday Times apologises to John Prescott over wrong quote

Paper says sorry to former deputy prime minister after it wrongly quoted him as criticising Labour leader Ed Miliband The former deputy prime minister John Prescott has received an apology from the Sunday Times after it wrongly quoting him as criticising the Labour leader, Ed Miliband. In the article, entitled “Labour big beasts maul Ed Miliband”, Prescott was quoted as telling “friends” that “it is only early days, but it has not been a great start” by the party’s leader. Prescott said on Twitter that the Sunday Times political editor, Isabel Oakeshott, called his family home in Hull on an ex-directory number. He said she had no opportunity to even ask a question because he simply asked her how she had got the number, told her never to call it again and put the phone down. The Sunday Times tweeted its apology, saying: “Due to a prod error a quote was wrongly attributed to @johnprescott. We apologise for the confusion & are happy to set the record straight.” Prescott replied: “Typical of Murdoch newspaper to blame a production worker not the journalist. My name was used to justify big beast headline.” He added: “I refuse to accept this mealy-mouthed apology. I want a front page retraction – due prominence – in next week’s Sunday Times.” Prescott, a potential victim of phone hacking by an investigator working for the News of the World, another Rupert Murdoch paper, has been one of the most vociferous critics of the handling of the hacking scandal by News International and the Metropolitan police. Sunday Times Newspapers & magazines News International National newspapers Newspapers John Prescott Ed Miliband Labour guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 12, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.