Edward Faulks QC, Lord Faulks, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), with effect from 1 January 2020, the IPSO Appointments Panel has announced.
Edward Faulks has a long career as a barrister specialising in claims arising from the Human Rights Act, professional and clinical negligence, personal injury, education, police claims and public law. He became a QC in 1996.
He was appointed to the House of Lords in 2010 and served as Justice Minister from 2013-2016. Edward Faulks no longer takes the Conservative whip and now sits as an unaffiliated peer.
Sir Hayden Phillips, Chairman of the IPSO Appointments Panel, said:
“We are delighted to be able to appoint someone of Edward Faulks' authority and calibre. The strength of the field we were able to attract for the IPSO Chairman reflects the progress made in independent self-regulation of the press under the leadership of Sir Alan Moses, the current Chairman. I am confident that Edward will be a worthy successor.”
Edward Faulks said:
“I am very pleased to be appointed as the next Chairman of IPSO. The freedom of the press is a crucial part of our democracy, but with that freedom comes responsibility. The widely publicised abuses which led to the Leveson Report made it essential that there should be an independent and effective regulator, as IPSO is, to hold the press to account. I will work for those that feel wronged by the press, holding publishers to account to the standards encompassed in the Editors' Code”.