Ray Lewis: What The Papers Are Saying

I'm not sure I deserve my shared byline on the Guardian's story, given that Matthew Taylor assembled it in the office at the end of an exhausting day while I was here at home making a mess of trying to help him and rustle up a chicken stir-fry at the same. I'm honoured, though: Matthew's a class act.

I think we're both pretty happy with our efforts on the Lewis story. Throughout, there have been some quite fine judgments to make about what to include in our pieces and what to leave out. We've chosen not to publish certain extremely solid facts about Lewis's past because making them public might have invited readers to draw conclusions about him that could be unjustifiably damaging or plain false. There are also many allegations about him that we've steered well clear of because they are strongly contested and unproven.

Predictably, some commenters at Cif and the Politics blog have characterised our coverage as a "smear" campaign. If only they knew. Maybe they'd like to compare the Mail's Lewis story or the Telegraph's with ours and think again.

Comments

[angela]

Dave, I am sure you have been restrained in your reporting about Ray Lewis, and as for being modest about your byeline, it's a pity you are not the editor of the Guardian and I would certainly buy it if you were.

I don't know the full details of the allegations, but my immediate reaction is as follows:

a) It is good Ray Lewis resigned so quickly, whatever the truth of the situation, because as he said, what Boris Johnson is trying to achieve is too important to be jeopardised. Lee Jasper should have done the same thing, particularly as public money was involved.

b) No harm has been done yet, at least this was found out really early on.

c) He might be cleared of all allegations. On the other hand, it is worrying he lied to Boris about being a magistrate. Boris's faith in him is now understandably shaken.

d) Concern about knife crime is so strong, it is understandable that everyone saw Ray Lewis as an inspired choice as Deputy Mayor, not just Boris johnson. Whatever he has done wrong, and it may not be half as bad as it appears, he has also done a lot right. From the tone of your piece, there is a lot we don't know, so the best thing is to wait until all the facts are out, before passing judgment.