Sun's Queen Brexit headline ruled 'misleading

• 1 hour ago
 
• From the section UK

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Image captionNick Clegg called the Sun's story "nonsense"

The Sun has been found in breach of press regulations for its front page headline suggesting the Queen was in favour of the UK leaving the EU, the press watchdog has ruled.

The headline, "Queen backs Brexit", published in March, was "significantly misleading", the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) said.

Buckingham Palace complained, insisting the Queen was "politically neutral".

The newspaper was ordered to publish the decision "as a remedy", Ipso said. 

The headline appeared alongside a picture of the Queen in ceremonial dress above the quote "EU going in wrong direction, she says". 

In the article The Sun reported that two unnamed sources had claimed the Queen made critical comments about the EU at two private functions.

One of the sources said they had witnessed a "bust-up" between the Queen and pro-EU former Deputy PM Nick Clegg in 2011 which it said left "no room for doubt about her passionate feelings over Europe".

But Buckingham Palace said the headline meant the Queen was a supporter of the Leave campaign in the 23 June referendum - which it said was "misleading, distorted, and unsupported by the text".

Mr Clegg called the story "nonsense" but the Sun said it stood by its story and would defend itself "vigorously".

'Unsupported headline'

Reporting its decision, Ipso said the article itself did not breach the Editor's Code of Practice, but "the headline went much further than a claim about what the Queen might think". 

"It was a factual assertion that the Queen had expressed a position in the referendum debate, and there was nothing in the headline, or the manner in which it was presented on the newspaper's front page, to suggest that this was conjecture, hyperbole, or was not to be read literally," it said.

Ipso added that "it did not follow from the comments the article reported that the Queen wanted the UK to leave the EU as a result of the referendum: that suggestion was conjecture" and was "significantly misleading - given that it suggested a fundamental breach of the Queen's constitutional obligations".

The complaint was upheld under clause one of the code of practice which refers to accuracy.

Image captionThe Queen was recently caught on camera saying Chinese officials were 'very rude'

The Queen has largely avoided making political statements in her 64-year reign but it is not the first time her comments on controversial areas have been reported.

In the build-up to Scotland's 2014 referendum on independence, Buckingham Palace denied suggestions that the Queen would wish to influence the result, following reports that she was concerned.

And earlier this month she was filmed saying Chinese officials were "very rude" during last year's state visit by President Xi Jinping.