A CONSERVATIVE MP has raged in Parliament against the Hereford Times, its editor and its publisher.

Bill Wiggin, who represents North Herefordshire, was dismayed that the independent regulator that holds the Press to account had not upheld his complaint against the paper.

He had objected to a Hereford Times report last November revealing that in addition to his £76,000 a year MP’s salary, he had received (entirely legal) payments for his work as managing director of Bermuda-based Emerging Asset Management.

The paper had also published comments from Labour politicians questioning the morality of MPs being involved in work that, they claimed, helps rich people to legally avoid paying tax.

Mr Wiggin complained that not only had the Hereford Times linked him with tax avoidance, it had also published letters from readers associating him with the Paradise Papers, a leak of documents throwing light on the world of offshore finance.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) investigated, but ruled that its Editors’ Code of Practice had not been breached.

Mr Wiggin then used a House of Commons debate on the Data Protection Bill to suggest the organisation was biased in favour of the Press.

He also rounded on the Hereford Times, its publisher and its editor.

He said: “Let me describe the Hereford Times a little bit. It is owned by Newsquest, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gannett Company UK, the UK branch of Gannett Company, a US media giant.

“In October 2016, the NUJ said, after its pay survey, that Newsquest was one of the stingiest employers, despite Gannett paying its top five executives over £15 million between them. I am pleased to say that I do not believe that John Wilson, the rather hopeless editor of the Hereford Times, was one of them.”

Mr Wiggin approves of attempts to force newspapers like the Hereford Times to accept the first state-backed press regulation in this country for 320 years.

Newspapers currently agree to be voluntarily bound to rulings by IPSO, which has the power to impose fines of up to £1 million for serious wrongdoing.

Most British newspapers refuse to bow to state-backed regulation, which has been condemned by Press freedom organisations around the world.

They say the changes Mr Wiggin supports would force many local papers out of business, and would have a chilling effect on public interest reporting.

Hereford Times comment: What must the voters think?

Bill Wiggin has used a debate on the Data Protection Bill to criticise the Hereford Times and its publisher, and belittle its editor, in the House of Commons.

Their offence, in Mr Wiggin’s eyes, had been to report on his financial interests outside Parliament, which included being managing director of an offshore financial company.

Parliament makes such information freely available to the public in the interests of transparency.

But Mr Wiggin claimed that in publishing the story we were linking him with tax avoidance and encouraging readers to associate him with the Paradise Papers, a leak of documents shedding light on the world of offshore finance.

He complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the industry regulator whose decisions the Hereford Times abides by.

But when IPSO failed to uphold his complaint he took to his feet in the Commons and suggested the organisation was biased in favour of the Press.

Turning his anger to the Hereford Times, and quoting trade union claims, he said five executives who work for the US media company that indirectly owns the paper were paid more than £15million between them.

Then he added: “I am pleased to say that I do not believe that John Wilson, the rather hopeless editor of the Hereford Times, was one of them.”

What on earth must the voters and local Conservative party officials of North Herefordshire think?

We struggle to imagine another instance where a Conservative MP would disparage, simply for doing their job, the leaders of one of Herefordshire’s best-known and longest-established employers on the say-so of a trade union!

And we are dismayed that a Conservative MP should attack an independent body because its ruling did not go his way.

For the editor’s part, he is happy to admit that he is paid considerably less than a handful of talented executives successfully steering a large media organisation through challenging times.

He wishes to add that his salary does not even come close to Mr Wiggin’s taxpayer-funded £76,000 a year.

But he does feel immensely privileged to have a job he enjoys, and which he believes contributes in a modest way to the wellbeing of the Herefordshire community.