10 Nov 2009

Was The Sun behind the Brown phone recording?

A colleague has gone through the messages posted on the Sun’s website by its readers. Earlier this afternoon they broke 60-40 in favour of the prime minister.

No.10 claims it’s been inundated with supportive messages, not something it is often in a position to say.

In her interview today Jacqui Janes says that there was no member of the Sun team present when she picked up the prime minister’s call at 10pm on Sunday and that it was her neighbour’s partner’s idea to record the phone once she put it on hands free.

She implies that it was her Ministry of Defence casualty visiting officer who passed on her mobile number to No.10.

She says she has been upset by accusations circulating that she may have accepted payment from the Sun. The paper says it will be making a donation to a forces charity on her behalf.

She says the letter from Gordon Brown arrived on 19 October and it was one Sunday after that that she decided to contact the Sun about it.

It would take a lot to shake some in No.10 from the view that they’ve been set up by the Sun, but given Mrs Janes’s words in the interview they’d probably be wise not to pursue that.

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