Paul Dacre: Politicians must not be allowed anywhere near press regulation

The reaction to the bitter row between Ed Miliband and the Daily Mail over an article denouncing the Labour leader's late father has shown why politicians "must not be allowed anywhere near press regulation", the newspaper's editor has said.

Paul Dacre (above) has spoken publicly for the first time since the paper sparked controversy by examining the Marxist views of Ralph Miliband under the headline "the man who hated Britain".

Writing in the Mail and Guardian newspapers, Mr Dacre said the "collective hysteria" over the essay by Geoffrey Levy had highlighted why statutory press regulation should not be introduced, as the Government and newspaper industry remained deadlocked over the latest proposals to regulate press standards.

"Some have argued that last week's brouhaha shows the need for statutory press regulation," Mr Dacre wrote. "I would argue the opposite.

"The febrile heat, hatred, irrationality and prejudice provoked by last week's row reveals why politicians must not be allowed anywhere near press regulation.

"And while the Mail does not agree with the Guardian over the stolen secret security files it published, I suggest that we can agree that the fury and recrimination the story is provoking reveals again why those who rule us - and who should be held to account by newspapers - cannot be allowed to sit in judgment on the press."

Mr Miliband was given the right to reply to the Daily Mail's essay on his father, who died in 1994, but the newspaper accompanied his piece with an editorial accusing the left-wing thinker of leaving an "evil legacy".

Mr Dacre said his newspaper had not suggested Ralph Miliband was "evil", only that the political beliefs he espoused had resulted in evil, and that, as a Marxist, he was "committed to smashing the institutions that make Britain distinctively British".

He wrote: "Yes, the Mail is happy to accept that in his personal life, Ralph Miliband was, as described by his son, a decent and kindly man - although we won't withdraw our view that he supported an ideology that caused untold misery in the world.

"Yes, we accept that he cherished this country's traditions of tolerance and freedom - while, in a troubling paradox typical of the left, detesting the very institutions and political system that made those traditions possible.

"And yes, the headline was controversial - but popular newspapers have a long tradition of using provocative headlines to grab readers' attention. In isolation that headline may indeed seem over the top, but read in conjunction with the article we believed it was justifiable."

The Daily Mail has refused to apologise for the article on Mr Miliband's father, but its sister paper, the Mail on Sunday, said sorry after a reporter gatecrashed a private family memorial service for Mr Miliband's uncle.