Leveson proposals: PM may use royal charter to set up press watchdog David Cameron is considering a new body as an alternative to statutory underpinning as recommended by Lord Justice Leveson Photograph: Andrew Cowie/AFP/Getty Images David Cameron is reportedly considering establishing a new press watchdog by royal charter, the same mechanism used to establish the BBC, as an alternative to statutory underpinning as recommended by Lord Justice Leveson. According to Friday's Daily Telegraph, the prime minister is looking at this option as a way of guaranteeing the body's independence from newspapers and politicians. The development comes as Cameron comes under mounting criticism for not accepting Leveson's recommendation for a press law. Labour is expected to soon publish a draft bill setting out how the newspaper industry's plans for an independent regulator can be overseen by a new body backed by statute. The party has been in discussion with Liberal Democrats and Tory backbench MPs supporting statutory underpinning, and is confident there has been no backsliding by supporters of this reform. Royal charters are legally binding documents that can set out the powers, rules and other legal responsibilities of a body. It is also a way of incorporating a body into a legal entity. The Bank of England and the British Red Cross were set up by royal charter, as was the University of Cambridge. In 2011, a royal charter was issued by the crown to establish the The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity. The BBC's royal charter is reviewed every 10 years and is seen as a mechanism to ensure independence from government. A source told the Telegraph "the combination of a royal charter and a judge presiding over the body will give the public confidence required that the press body will be rigorous and independent." Cameron and the newspaper industry have been told by Leveson that it is "essential" that a statute is needed to create a body to verify the new press regulator's performance, auditing its decisions periodically to keep it in check. However, Cameron has said he has concerns about such statutory underpinning, prompting victims of press intrusion such as JK Rowling to say they feel "duped and angry" over his response to the Leveson inquiry. Under pressure from Cameron, newspapers have agreed to implement most of Leveson's recommendations, bar those that require new statutes or amendments to laws such as the Data Protection Act. The director of campaign group Hacked Off, Brian Cathcart, said earlier this week that the deal "smells of a stitch up" between politicians and editors. On Thursday, the group said the plans to set up a new watchdog without statute was "a charade." In an interview in politics magazine The House, Hugh Grant said he detected a shift in opinion following the Leveson debate in the Commons on Monday in which a number of Tories said they supported statutory underpinning. "It seemed to me personally like a little bit of a shift," he added. They seemed more hardline on Thursday and suddenly less hardline, significantly less hardline ... almost as though, perhaps, they had started to register public opinion. Grant said he worries about revenge being taken by newspapers against those who took them on. That's the technique, it's why, sadly, what is a really important, almost sacred, function in our democracy - which is journalism - has drifted in some quarters of our press much nearer to a protection racket.