Maddie McCanns' father Gerry was interviewed by the BBC Breakfast team about his open letter to the Prime Minister regarding The Leveson Inquiry

 

Gerry McCann was grilled by BBC Breakfast's Louise Minchin earlier today, following an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron about The Leveson Inquiry.

The McCanns and victims of the hacking scandal signed an open letter to Cameron addressing the fact that a key part of the Royal Charter agreement, introduced after the 2012 findings of The Leveson Enquiry, has been approved by Parliament but has not yet come into law.

McCann was adamant that if nothing is done then the Inquiry would have been a "waste of time".

Meanwhile, viewers took to Twitter to ask why Gerry wasn't appealing for his daughter who went missing in 2007.

When asked about why he was one of the signatories of the open letter, he said that the proposed law for reforms was 'never optional'.

He said: "I think it's about exasperation really, Section 40 isn't optional. It was never intended to be optional and there is no reason why the Government are delaying.

"We have corresponded with the Prime Minister privately and we have spoken to the Culture Secretary [The Rt Hon John Whittingdale MP] on two separate occasions and have been dismayed by his attitude.

"The Prime Minister promised us that the victims would remain at the centre of the Leveson reforms and we feel that our views have been pushed aside."

Just over four years ago the McCanns met the Prime Minister and got a personal assurance that press regulators would have 'real teeth'.

The Government has decided to postpone section 40.

McCann added: "The press are always going to say that they are at a disadvantage. They already have the odds stacked in their favour.

"We're just asking for them all to sign up to this low-cost arbitration."

BBC Breakfast's Louise Minchin then pressed McCann about the reforms and the 'enormous amount of money spent on regulation'.

"I don't see any front page apologies... we need proper independent self-regulation."

Gerry McCann then stressed that if these minimum requirements weren't met then The Leveson Inquiry was a "waste of time".

Meanwhile, viewers on Twitter only had one question on their mind.

One viewer was angry McCann was on morning television and penned: "Gerry #McCann doing the rounds on TV & media, whining & moaning. Not one appeal to Maddie"

When McCann started trending on Twitter, another added: "It's shocking how much abuse Gerry McCann gets online, shocking."