Gudio 'denied day in court' before Leveson Inquiry

Blogger Guido Fawkes will not be appearing before the Leveson Inquiry tomorrow.

Guido, aka Paul Staines, was summoned to appear by Lord Justice Leveson after he leaked a draft of evidence Alastair Campbell was to give to the inquiry.

But Guido has posted on his site: "So after Guido having instructed solicitor Robert Dougans of Bryan Cave to formally submit a Witness Statement to Lord Justice Leveson, as so compelled under threat of imprisonment, Lord Justice Leveson now says he is discharging Guido from appearing tomorrow. Well Guido had a lot to say.

"It is almost as if they are embarrassed at the string of cock-ups. First of all no crime has been committed. The evidence was not restricted until after it was published. Some might think that an inquiry into matters like press hacking and privacy should be careful to protect itself from press leaks."

Campbell told the Leveson Inquiry today he sent drafts of his witness statement to lawyers, journalists and former political colleagues before it was leaked. He said he was confident that none of the people he copied the statement to would have passed it on to the blogger.

Guido adds: "Oh, and under the terms of the Restriction Order Guido is not allowed to tell you what he was going to tell the judge in his Witness Statement tomorrow. Suffice to say Guido was refusing point blank to reveal his source’s name. Maybe Guido should just email it to a few close journalist friends…"

Pic: Paul Staines (Jon Slattery).