Piers Morgan on celebrity bins and other ethical matters

IN A COCKY performance before Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into media ethics, Piers Morgan denied all knowledge of phone hacking. No surprise there.

What might have raised eyebrows, however, was the former News of the World and Daily Mirror editor's insistence that "ethical considerations were interwoven" into his work while freely admitting to having listened to a tape of a message left by Paul McCartney on Heather Mills's voicemail and employing a man to go through the bins of celebrities.

Speaking via videolink from the US, Morgan, who now hosts CNN talk show Piers Morgan Tonight, told Leveson he had "no reason to believe" phone hacking was going on at the Daily Mirror. He also stood by his claim in evidence to the hearing that "ethical considerations were interwoven into my work" as an editor.

Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked why Morgan had said in 2007 that phone hacking was a "very widespread practice" at newspapers. Morgan explained that he had heard it on the "Fleet Street rumour mill".

In one of many skirmishes over what constitutes ethical journalism, Jay asked Morgan about 'binnology' - the use of material gathered from the waste of famous people to write stories about them. Morgan described the practice as being "on the cusp of unethical".

But Jay referred Morgan to his 2005 book, The Insider, in which he explained that "loads of papers" buy stories from a man called 'Benjy the Binman' despite the "seriously unethical" way he acquires material.

Jay then went on to ask Morgan about his claim, made in an article he wrote for the Daily Mail in 2006, that he had listened to a tape of a message Paul McCartney had left for Heather Mills on her mobile phone.

Jay asked if Morgan knew it was "unethical" to have listened to the message. As the BBC reports, Morgan insisted it was not unethical - and that the ethics of listening to other peoples' voicemail messages depended on the "circumstances".

Jay then invited Morgan to tell the inquiry something about the circumstances which "might lead us to think that it was not unethical".

Morgan refused to do so - and showed just how ethical he can be by pointing out that explaining the circumstances might allow his source to be identified.

Lord Leveson then intervened, asking Morgan if "the only person who would lawfully be able to listen to the message is the lady in question or somebody authorised on her behalf to listen to it". Morgan replied: "Possibly".

When Leveson suggested he might call Heather Mills to ask her if she authorised Morgan to listen to her voicemails, Morgan responded: "What we know for a fact about Lady Heather Mills McCartney is that in their divorce case Paul McCartney stated as a fact that she had recorded their conversations and given them to the media."

Over to you, Ms Mills... ·