Jason Arday's death is being used to attack press freedom, says Kemi Badenoch

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

26 August 2026

The leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch MP, has said that the tragic death of Jason Arday is being used in an "appalling" bid to attack our free press. She said these calls amount to "a muzzling of the press".

In an interview with The Telegraph, which followed calls from the leader of the Green Party, Zack Polanski, for the press to be "sorted out" and for an urgent inquiry into the "culture and behaviour" of the press, Mrs Badenoch went on to criticise the University of Cambridge for failing in its "duty of care" towards Mr Arday by elevating him to a "position that he was not ready for".

He was used in his life by certain quarters, and now his death is being used by others to further a different agenda — one which is really about an attack on press freedom.

I think that's appalling. I don't think that Jason Arday's death should be used as a way to bring about a muzzling of the press. Freedom of the press is something I very much believe in.

Meritocracy is also something I very much believe in. And if he had not been put in a position that he was not ready for, it's unlikely that that tragedy would have unfolded. And it's really Cambridge University and others in that education department who have a lot of questions to answer and how they failed in their duty of care.

Following the tragic death of Jason Arday, Zack Polanski has demanded greater regulation of the press, posting on X: "It's time we sorted out the press. Constant misinformation to protect their donors and fossil fuels is destroying lives and our planet. The Government must step up and stop being cowardly."

Green Party members have also called for the Government to reopen the Leveson Inquiry and demanded that the media be placed under a "genuinely independent and recognised regulator with effective enforcement powers". In fact, The Spectator revealed that an emergency motion endorsed by eighty-nine members has been tabled to be debated at the Green Party conference in the autumn, calling for state regulation of the press and mechanisms to force social media companies to protect and promote a diversity of voices.

Separately, Hacked Off, the pressure group associated with actor Hugh Grant, which has called for greater state regulation of the press for the last fifteen years, has called for an inquiry into press coverage of Mr Arday.

The Good Law Project, run by activist lawyer Jolyon Maugham, has published a letter signed by several MPs stating that Arday's death was the "direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment". This included the veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott, the Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, and celebrity Carol Vorderman.

A free press is a cornerstone of a democratic society. Jason Arday's death is tragic, but it must not be used as a pretext to muzzle the press.

Read more in The Telegraph.