Confirmed,They Did Make It Up

Earlier in the year, there was a great egg scandal where the Mail and others reported that the EU was going to ban selling of eggs by the dozen. Not true, cried...well just about everyone who actually bothered to read the relevant document.

Not so Iain Dale, who took the story at face value and got stuck in with gusto only to be taken to task in his comments which among other things (accurately) described the claims as 'pure cack'. This prompted a legendary Dale temper tantrum:

I wrote about it HERE. Ever since I have been plagued by Europhile idiots calling on me to apologise for essentially making up the story. I haven't because I didn't.

And:

Read the whole article HERE. This is not written by a tabloid journalist or a partisan blogger. It's written by the editor of The Grocer. Think on that.

So perhaps I should now ask for an apology from those who wanted one from me. I might as well whistle in the wind.

And:

I dont think a single commenter so far has read the enire Grocer article.

It says it all that one of them would prefer to helieve Sunny effing Hundal rather than the editor of the sector's leading trade mag.

Well Mr Dale you did make it up:

Ray Merrell complained to the Press Complaints Commission that the [Sun] had published an article about the European Union's plans to sell all food by weight which was misleadingly headlined "Euro ban on eggs by dozen". The complainant pointed out that it was not the case that British shoppers would no longer be able to by a box of six eggs or a dozen rolls: merely that the items will be priced by weight. He was concerned that the article - which appeared on page ten of the newspaper and online - represented an attempt to stir up anti-EU feeling among readers.

And the resolution? The complaint was upheld and The Sun printed this retraction:

Eggs by a dozen are safe

Brussels has vowed it has no plans to ban Brits buying eggs by the dozen. Controversy erupted in July following reports that the EU wanted food to be only sold by weight. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman pledged to fight the plans. And the Food Standards Authority watchdog also voiced concern. But the European Parliament has insisted it never intended to stop people buying eggs or bread rolls by the dozen. A spokesman said: "Selling eggs by the dozen will not be illegal under the terms of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament to EU food labelling proposals. "Labels will still be able to indicate the number of food items in a pack, whether of eggs, bread rolls or fish fingers."

The above appeared on page four of the newspaper.

Date Published: 03/09/2010

Perhaps Mr Dale should now be graciousness enough to apologise to all those that he described as idiots (even worse, he effectively accused me of being a Europhile). But we might as well whistle in the wind.

hattip: Liberal Conspiracy