The end of misleading headlines: Iain Wilson writes about Vince v Associated Newspapers in The Law Society Gazette
by: Iain Wilson
October 2, 2026
On 5 July 2026, the Mail on Sunday published an article – described as a ‘‘SPECIAL REPORT’’ by the paper’s political editor – entitled ‘‘As VAT on school fees makes it tougher for hard-working families to send their children…The Labour MPs and ministers (including one who went to Eton) keeping quiet about their private education’’. The article accused Labour’s Catherine Atkinson – MP for Derby North, and then the Under Secretary of State for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls – of deliberating failing to include the fact of her ‘£63,900-a-year education’ at Benden School in her Who’s Who entry, at a time when the Labour government was ‘hammering’ the private education sector with tax rises. This suggested that Ms Atkinson was a hypocrite who was misleading the electorate. Of the 36 Labour MPs who were so accused (rightly or wrongly), the paper chose to include photographs of five of them, and to make the photograph of Ms Atkinson the most prominent.
In truth, Ms Atkinson never attended Beneden or any fee-paying school, and – more importantly – has been an active and vocal champion of social mobility causes for decades, particularly in the legal industry (having practised as a barrister prior to becoming an MP). The fact that Ms Atkinson attended the non-fee-paying Sacred Heart High School in Hammersmith, west London, is a matter of public record. To make matters even worse, Ms Atkinson was contacted by the Mail on Sunday ahead of publication of the article and expressly corrected their understanding, but the early edition of the article featured her anyway.
Later that same day, The Times printed a revised version of the Mail on Sunday’s article, making the same mistake about Ms Atkinson.
Associated Newspapers and Times Newspapers corrected their articles in later editions, and issued apologies to Ms Atkinson. Following Ms Atkinson’s instruction of this firm, both papers have now also agreed to pay Ms Atkinson a sum in damages and costs. Ms Atkinson intends to donate any sum over and above her out-of-pocket expenses to charity.
Catherine Atkinson MP was represented by Max Campbell.
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