David Cameron tells editors: implement Leveson to avoid press law Cameron speaks after meeting newspaper editors to discuss a new regulatory regime Link to this video David Cameron has told national newspaper editors they must implement the Leveson report recommendations in their entirety if the government is to hold off introducing a new press law. The prime minister gave them until Thursday to demonstrate they were making progress on agreeing a reformed structure of regulation. Cameron spent about 20 minutes at what was described by participants as a "good meeting" attended by almost every Fleet Street editor on Tuesday morning. He emphasised that "at the end of this very short process you've got to come up with a regulatory system that is exactly what Leveson asked for," statute excepted. The prime minister then handed over to the culture secretary, Maria Miller, and Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister, who is Cameron's policy fixer and has been handed the task of helping deal with the legal aspects of implementing the Leveson report. Among those present were the editors of the Daily Telegraph, the Sun, the Mirror, the Guardian and the Times - with Paul Dacre, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail, the most notable absentee, because he was attending a funeral. Echoing the prime minister, Letwin said that Leveson, minus statute, had to be implemented "line by line." This prompted some questions from those present about whether it would be necessary to introduce a system that would allow for third-party complaints from pressure groups whose ultimate aim may be to influence news agendas in their preferred direction. Otherwise there was little dissent at the meeting, with a handful of editors taking to Twitter to give their own reaction. Lloyd Embley, the Mirror's editor-in-chief, wrote afterwards: "there is a firm belief that papers can deliver Leveson principles far more quickly without legislation - better for public and free speech." Held in an upstairs room at No 10, normally competing editors sat at a conference table with ministers, where jugs of water were provided. Craig Oliver, the prime minister's director of communications, was also present, and agreed after the meeting that it could be reported. Letwin outlined the steps he was taking to ensure the successor to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) would be robust, even without a statutory backstop. He said he would have more detailed information for consideration "in 10 days, two weeks maximum," saying he had the "entire government legal team at work." Letwin said he would develop specific proposals to ensure a new, low-cost press tribunal - designed to handle libel, privacy and other quasi-legal complaints - was recognised by the courts as a body that could reach binding settlements, levy damages and award costs, partly by amending the existing civil procedure rules. He said he would create a method of verification by an "unimpeachable, impartial" individual or body that would certify that the new press regulator was compliant with Leveson in all respects. This "ironclad" system - operating outside statute, "but independent beyond a shadow of doubt" - could also appoint the first chairman, Letwin said. Leveson had proposed this verification role could be taken on by the statutory regulator Ofcom, raising concerns that state oversight was being introduced. Letwin would not be drawn on the precise nature of this verification body or process, saying the details still needed to be sorted out. But he insisted it could only verify the new regulatory system if it was "exactly, to the letter, compliant with Leveson." He warned editors they could only water down Leveson by "a very, very tiny fraction" if they wanted to avoid the statutory route. There was little discussion about what the government would do if a publisher or newspaper refused to sign up to the new regulator. But with few signs of dissent in the industry, there is a belief that the benefits of membership, principally from having access to the cut-price tribunal system, would ensure owners and editors were eager to join. Ministers would only consider intervening if the industry could not design a Leveson-style regulator. Letwin said the industry's proposed system of voluntary contracts was, to some extent, irrelevant, if the body was Leveson-compliant and if the arbitration system could be used as an incentive to join. In a statement released after the meeting, Miller said the event was "a good starting point" but there were was "a huge amount of work for the industry to do," and while she had "grave concerns about legislation, if the industry fails to deliver then it will be the only option left." She made it clear that Lord Justice Leveson found the proposals for PCC reform previously drawn up by Lord Hunt, the chairman of the PCC, and Lord Black, chairman of the PCC financing body Pressbof, "unconvincing." Those attending Tuesday's meeting also included the Times editor, James Harding; the Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger; the Independent editor, Chris Blackhurst; the Financial Times editor, Lionel Barber; and the Sunday Times editor, John Witherow. Peter Wright, the former Mail on Sunday editor, deputised for Dacre, while Paul Ashford, the editorial director at Northern & Shell, represented Richard Desmond's Daily Express and Star titles. The only female principal present - other than Miller - was Sarah Sands, the editor of the Evening Standard. Some editors raised concerns about proposed changes to the Data Protection Act and protection of sources, but were told this was not central to the main issue of regulation. Emerging from the meeting, Tony Gallagher, the editor of the Daily Telegraph, tweeted: "19 editors and industry reps, 9 mandarins, 3 ministers and 1 PM. We got coffee and still tap water. No beer and sandwiches. He said the meeting "felt like the summoning of the five families" from the film The Godfather. Victims of phone hacking were outside the meeting heckling editors as they went in. The editors agreed they would have a private meeting, organised by Harding and without ministers, Hunt or Black present, later this week to discuss issues of concern. It is likely to be a critical meeting in which the industry will begin to agree the detailed design of the body that will replace the PCC. Responding to the prime minister's demand that editors produce an improved version of self-regulation to avoid legislation, Evan Harris, director of Hacked Off said: "The editors and the prime minister are deliberately missing the point. Lord Justice Leveson said that it was essential to underpin whatever system the press developed with a legal guarantee of independence and effectiveness. Whatever emerges this week, next week or next year from the editors is irrelevant to the essential requirement that a body is set up in law to verify that the scheme is good enough and stays good enough. Victims and their political supporters will not allow any sham Cameron-Murdoch pact to cloud the issue.