Ryan Giggs has been named by an MP in the House of Commons as the person identified on Twitter in the context of injunctions. Birmingham MP John Hemming gave the footballer's name when speaking about injunctions in Parliament. He spoke after a group of newspapers failed in its bid to lift an injunction which banned the naming of a Premier League footballer who had a "sexual relationship" with a reality TV star. The papers had gone to the High Court in London to try to overturn the injunction after the publication of the footballer's name and photograph in a Scottish newspaper, the Sunday Herald. The married star, referred to as CTB in court documents, is alleged to have had a "sexual relationship" with Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas. Mr Justice Eady rejected a fresh application by News Group Newspapers to discharge the privacy injunction relating to CTB on the basis that to continue it would be "futile", given recent widespread publicity about his identity. The judge said: "It has never been suggested, of course, that there is any legitimate public interest, in the traditional sense, in publishing this information. "The court's duty remains to try and protect the claimant, and particularly his family, from intrusion and harassment so long as it can." In the House of Commons, Mr Hemming said: "With about 75,000 people having named Ryan Giggs on Twitter it is obviously impracticable to imprison them all and with reports that Giles Coren also faces imprisonment..." He was interrupted by the Speaker John Bercow, who reminded the minister that Parliament was "the occasion for raising the issues of principle involved not seeking to flout for whatever purpose." The Sunday Herald printed a picture of the footballer's face with his eyes blacked out and the word "censored" written over the top. Beneath the picture they wrote: "Everyone knows this is the footballer accused of using the courts to keep allegations of a sexual affair secret." In the House of Commons, the Attorney General Dominic Grieve said a new committee will be set up to look at the use of gagging orders in controversial privacy cases. Earlier the Prime Minister described privacy rulings against newspapers as "unsustainable" and "unfair" on the press. David Cameron said the Government will look at the problem but added there was no "simple answer" and ministers needed to take "some time out". He also indicated that he knew the identity of the footballer "like everybody else", during an interview on ITV's Daybreak. Mr Cameron said: "It is rather unsustainable, this situation, where newspapers can't print something that clearly everybody else is talking about, but there's a difficulty here because the law is the law and the judges must interpret what the law is. "What I've said in the past is, the danger is that judgments are effectively writing a new law which is what Parliament is meant to do. "So I think the Government, Parliament has got to take some time out, have a proper look at this, have a think about what we can do, but I'm not sure there is going to be a simple answer." Breaking News 4:52pm UK, Monday May 23, 2011 Gagging Order: MP Names Footballer In Commons Ryan Giggs has been named by an MP in the House of Commons as the person identified on Twitter in the context of injunctions. 400-ryan-giggs-yoga-video Birmingham MP John Hemming gave the footballer's name when speaking about injunctions in Parliament. He spoke after a group of newspapers failed in its bid to lift an injunction which banned the naming of a Premier League footballer who had a "sexual relationship" with a reality TV star. The papers had gone to the High Court in London to try to overturn the injunction after the publication of the footballer's name and photograph in a Scottish newspaper, the Sunday Herald. The married star, referred to as CTB in court documents, is alleged to have had a "sexual relationship" with Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas. Mr Justice Eady rejected a fresh application by News Group Newspapers to discharge the privacy injunction relating to CTB on the basis that to continue it would be "futile", given recent widespread publicity about his identity. The judge said: "It has never been suggested, of course, that there is any legitimate public interest, in the traditional sense, in publishing this information. "The court's duty remains to try and protect the claimant, and particularly his family, from intrusion and harassment so long as it can." In the House of Commons, Mr Hemming said: "With about 75,000 people having named Ryan Giggs on Twitter it is obviously impracticable to imprison them all and with reports that Giles Coren also faces imprisonment..." He was interrupted by the Speaker John Bercow, who reminded the minister that Parliament was "the occasion for raising the issues of principle involved not seeking to flout for whatever purpose." Footballer launches legal action against Twitter Blacked out comments on Twitter The Sunday Herald printed a picture of the footballer's face with his eyes blacked out and the word "censored" written over the top. Beneath the picture they wrote: "Everyone knows this is the footballer accused of using the courts to keep allegations of a sexual affair secret." In the House of Commons, the Attorney General Dominic Grieve said a new committee will be set up to look at the use of gagging orders in controversial privacy cases. Earlier the Prime Minister described privacy rulings against newspapers as "unsustainable" and "unfair" on the press. David Cameron said the Government will look at the problem but added there was no "simple answer" and ministers needed to take "some time out". He also indicated that he knew the identity of the footballer "like everybody else", during an interview on ITV's Daybreak. Mr Cameron said: "It is rather unsustainable, this situation, where newspapers can't print something that clearly everybody else is talking about, but there's a difficulty here because the law is the law and the judges must interpret what the law is. "What I've said in the past is, the danger is that judgments are effectively writing a new law which is what Parliament is meant to do. "So I think the Government, Parliament has got to take some time out, have a proper look at this, have a think about what we can do, but I'm not sure there is going to be a simple answer." should both sides of the story be told? Mr Cameron suggested that one route might be to strengthen the Press Complaints Commission. His position was backed by Labour leader Ed Miliband who told Sky News: "We have got a situation where we have these rulings on privacy but clearly many people are being able to break them using social networking. "I don't think that is a good position to be in when the law is not working. Parliament does need to look at this." In an editorial, the Sunday Herald said it was "unsustainable" for newspapers not to be able to print information which is available on the internet. PR consultant Max Clifford told Sky News: "The whole thing is developing into a Whitehall farce because everybody knows who he is. "The lawyers have made the situation worse by going after Twitter." The privacy order protecting the footballer's identity has been publicly flouted, especially online where thousands of people have mentioned the man's name on Twitter. The player's lawyers are now taking action against the social media site and users who may have breached the court order. The Sunday Herald argued it was not breaking the law by publishing the story because the injunction does not apply in Scotland. No complaints have yet been made about the paper's story to the Attorney General. A spokesman for the Attorney General said: "The Attorney is aware of the publication in Scotland which has attracted attention. "He has received no complaint or referral from any parties or by any court." http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Video-MP-Names-Footballer-At-Centre-Of-Gagging-Order-In-House-Of-Commons/Article/201105415997439?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15997439_Video%3A_MP_Names_Footballer_At_Centre_Of_Gagging_Order_In_House_Of_Commons[ Code (markup):
Hemming was right to do it- Suing all the folks who mentioned his name on twitter was making the whole thing a big farce. If Giggs didn't want it to come out, he should never have done it in the first place. In fact, people will remember this one because Giggs took out the injunction and worked so hard to try and prevent his name from coming out. If he had let it come out, people would have forgotten all about it in the next month- remember Rooney and his exploits?