MI5 will not face contempt of court action despite admitting that evidence it gave to three courts was false

Three senior judges, including Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, ruled it would not be in the public interest to start contempt proceedings against MI5 and its director-general over false evidence given to three courts. The false evidence was used in a 2022 injunction against the BBC, which stopped a documentary about a man known as X who is alleged to have abused two women and is a covert human intelligence source. Police may investigate individual officers for misconduct in public office.

L 22%C 22%R 56%

L 22% · C 22% · R 56% · 9 outlets

Our outlet list is not evenly split: about 50% left-rated, 15% centre and 35% right-rated, so raw splits lean left by construction. Blindspots are tested against each side's own share. About our sample.

Left 0 · Centre-left 2 · Centre 2 · Centre-right 2 · Right 3

Blindspot for the left (barely covered by left-leaning outlets)

Context Sources by lean Video Deep dive Follow the money More coverage

How each side framed it

Left-leaning outlets

'MI5 spared legal action after false evidence given to three courts' (The National; The Herald).

Centre outlets

Centre-rated outlets headline it: “MI5 will not face contempt of court charges despite admitting its evidence was a lie” (BBC News); “MI5 escapes legal action despite providing false evidence to three courts” (Sky News).

Right-leaning outlets

'MI5 won't be prosecuted for lying in court over neo-Nazi case' (The Telegraph); 'UK spy bosses humiliated as MI5 forced to issue grovelling apology' (Daily Express).

Context

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Sources by lean

Balanced: the same number of articles from the left, the centre and the right (up to 3 each). The bar above still counts every rated outlet we found. Bias and factual ratings come from Media Bias/Fact Check. How we balance · All ratings.

Showing 2 from each side of 9 rated outlets (L 2 / C 2 / R 5). Capped at 2 because that is all we found on the thinnest side. More coverage

Video

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Deep dive

A short prompt for thinking it through. We write a fuller side-by-side deep dive for the day's biggest stories.

The paradox: Both sides report the same ruling; some stress the lack of accountability, others MI5's apology.

What each side may be protecting: Left: accountability of the security services. Right: institutional reputation and the rule of law.

A question to hold: Shared question: what independent check would stop false evidence reaching a court again?

Try it: open one left and one right article in Sources by lean and note what each takes for granted.

Follow the money

Not yet researched. We haven't yet looked at who gains or loses financially from this story, or who funds the main voices on each side. When we do, we check company filings, the Electoral Commission donations register, lobbying registers, annual reports, InfluenceMap and OpenSecrets, and we apply the same checks to every side. How we follow the money.

Who owns or funds the outlets covering this story (9 outlets)

Outlet	Lean	Ownership & funding (MBFC)
The Herald (Scotland)	Centre-left	The Glasgow Herald is published by Herald & Times Group, which is owned by Newsquest Media Group Ltd. Newsquest is the second-largest publisher in the United Kingdom, publishing 205 brands including 165 newspapers. Further, Newsquest is owned by US-based Gannett which publishes USA Today. source
The National (Scotland)	Centre-left	The National is operated by Newsquest Media Group Ltd., a UK-based local media publisher. Newsquest is a wholly owned subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc., the media company formerly known as Gannett Company, which also controls AZthe USA TODAY Network of national and local news outlets in the United States and regional titles in the United Kingdom. Revenue is generated from advertising and subscription sales source
BBC News	Centre	The BBC operates under a Royal Charter. Oversight is managed by the BBC Board, and regulatory authority rests with Ofcom. source
Sky News	Centre	Sky News is owned by Comcast as of November 2018 and is funded through advertising. Rupert Murdoch is no longer affiliated with Sky News UK; however, Newscorp still has a share of Sky News Australia, which reports with a right-leaning bias. source
Evening Standard	Centre-right	The newspaper is majority-owned by Russian businessman and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev and the Daily Mail and General Trust. Revenue is generated through advertising. source
ITV News	Centre-right	No ownership data found
Daily Express	Right	The Daily Express is owned by Reach plc (formerly known as Trinity Mirror), a British newspaper, magazine, and digital publisher. Subscriptions, newsstand sales, and advertising generate revenue. source
GB News	Right	GB News lacks transparency as they do not disclose ownership. A search reveals that London-based ALL Perspectives Ltd owns GB News. According to Reuters, the television channel “secured millions of dollars from investors such as Discovery Inc, Legatum and hedge fund manager Paul Marshall. source
The Telegraph	Right	Telegraph Media Group (TMG) owns The Telegraph, which is owned by Press Acquisitions Ltd., which in turn is owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay. In 2004, Twin Brothers Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay acquired the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph from the Canadian media company Hollinger Inc. for £665 million. For a complete list of Board members, see here. source