Cable attacks Telegraph sting amid more recordings

Vince Cable has criticised The Daily Telegraph for the sting by undercover reporters posing as constituents which resulted in him being stripped of responsibility for media regulation.

The Business Secretary, who told the journalists he had "declared war" on Rupert Murdoch, said the newspaper's operation had caused "great damage" to the confidential relationship between MPs and constituents and had "completely undermined" the work of MPs.

He told his local paper, the Richmond and Twickenham Times: "I feel quite angry and strongly about this... Thousands and thousands of constituents have been to see me, often on very difficult and highly confidential issues which have been respected by me and by them. Then somebody who isn't a constituent falsifies their name and address and comes in with a hidden microphone."

The Telegraph Media Group said: "There is a clear public interest in The Daily Telegraph publishing this story. The Daily Telegraph takes the Press Complaints Commission code extremely seriously and has always adhered to it."

Today The Daily Telegraph reports that Jeremy Browne, the Liberal Democrat Foreign Office minister, told an undercover reporter that Tory immigration policy was "driven by uncharitable instincts" and claimed the Liberal Democrats had helped to turn a "very harsh" approach into a "more enlightened" policy.