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[craig79 51]

PHILMACGIOLLABHAIN A BIGOT ... NOW IT'S OFFICIAL

PHILMACGIOLLABHAIN has now been officially branded as a bigot by the powerful and completely neutral Press Complaints Commission.

For I can reveal that the PCC has ruled in favour of the Scottish Sun after the newspaper said, in an editorial in September, that Philmacgiollabhain was tarred by the brush of sectarianism.

Which in layman’s language, meant they called the IRA supporting, Philmacgiollabhain, who remains a senior official of the National Union of Journalists, a bigot.

The Scottish Sun’s outburst against Philacgiollabhain came when they withdrew from a deal which would have seen the newspaper publish extracts of Philmacgiollabhain’s book.

The Sun's about-turn followed a story in the Scottish Sun on Sunday in which Philmacgiollabhain was interviewed and claimed he had been subjected to threats. The story also trailed his book which, said the Sun on Sunday, would begin its serialisation the following day.

However, when Philacgiollabhain’s bigoted rantings were revealed to Scottish Sun and Sun on Sunday editor-in-chief Andy Harries, he quickly reversed his decision and cancelled the deal.

And in an unprecedented step, the Scottish Sun published a lengthy editorial – the official voice of any newspaper’s policy – which explained why Philmacgiollabhain was being banished from the newspaper’s pages.

It was in that statement of News International’s policy that the Scottish Sun said that Philmacghoillabhain was tarred with the brush of sectarianism, effectively branding him a bigot.

Now that claim by the Scottish Sun has been made official and given its blessing by the Press Complaints Commission in an adjudication which backs the newspaper.

In an wildly optimistic bid to clear his name, perhaps driven by an arrogance that his top level status within National Union of Journalists would influence the great and the good sitting in judgement on him, or perhaps because he believed, because the newspaper concerned is part of the Rupert Murdoch empire, Philmacgiollabhain complained to the Press Complaints Commission.

But now I can reveal that his wild optimism and his arrogance have both been misplaced, for the Press Complaints Commission have reached a verdict and that verdict is the Scottish Sun’s editorial was right to effectively call Philacghoillabhain a bigot.

I am able to reveal this, despite the fact that the adjudication has surprisingly not yet been published on the Press Complaints Commission’s official website, even though the verdict in the Sun’s favour was handed down before Christmas, thanks to a top level contact, an old Fleet Street pal, inside the Sun’s London headquarters, who has tipped me off.

He has also explained the reason why the Scottish Sun has not published the PCC adjudication in its favour, is that it is not News International policy to publish such verdicts when the newspaper wins.

Clearly it would hardly be in Philmacgiollabhain’s interest for him to reveal that he is now officially a bigot.

Tomorrow I will reveal just what this verdict means and the wide ranging implications it will have.

But for now, it is enough for everyone to know that the Scottish Sun’s verdict in the voice of its official policy, that Philmacghoillabhain is a bigot, has been endorsed by the Press Complaints Commission. And it does not get much more official than that.

leggoland at 07:51

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