The Independent Press Standards Organisation has rejected all the complaints received over a Mail on Sunday article written by Angela Rayner

The Independent Press Standards Organisation has rejected all the complaints received over the Mail on Sunday article that alleged that Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner crossed and uncrossed her legs to distract the Prime Minister in the House of Commons

The article headlined Stone the Crows received over 6,000 complaints which the organisation will respond to individually.

However it said that before deciding to accept complaints from third-party complaints about accuracy, it needed to consider the position of the party most closely involved.

In order to decide whether the Editors’ Code was breached, IPSO would need to investigate and make findings about things which Ms Rayner is claimed to have said and done.

Such an investigation would not be possible without her involvement, and because of this, we declined to consider complaints made under this Code clause.

This they add though, does not affect the ability of Angela Rayner to make a complaint on this point.

The IPSO also said that Complainants said the article intruded into Ms Rayner’s private life and could lead to stalking or harassment.

As no complainant was acting as an authorised representative, they were not able to consider those complaints.

Many complainants were concerned that the article was offensive.

The Editor’s Code does not address issues of taste or offence. It is designed to deal with any possible conflicts between the right to freedom of expression and the rights of individuals, such as their right to privacy.

Newspapers and magazines are free to publish what they think is appropriate so long as the rights of individuals – which are protected under the Code – are not infringed.

The IPSO recognised that many complainants found the content of the article to be offensive or tasteless.

However, this did not in itself mean that the article was in breach of the Code by reporting them.

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