Sour grapes from the Mail?

The Sun carries an article this morning written by Andy McNab that seeks to justify Faye Turney's selling of the story to the paper.

Andy,former SAS hero, is the Sun's security correspondent who argues that the captured sailors

"When they returned safe and well should have been given heroes’ welcomes.
Instead the armchair generals at home — led by an at times hysterical Daily Mail — have tried to pour scorn on these brave sailors."

"And the rent-a-quotes have suggested being taken hostage by the Iranians was like a fortnight in Butlins. "

He also suggests that one of the reasons for the Mail's hostility is that it was beaten to the story by the Sun after a“very substantial sum”.

Turney turned down the offer because the Sun is the paper of the forces and the Mail is rarely read in the mess halls.

update

Polly Toynbee joins the debate in the Guardian under the article"Our press, the worst in the west, demoralises us all

"The Ministry of Defence agreed to pass bids on to the sailors: the Daily Mail emailed an offer of "a very substantial sum". The Mail on Sunday combined its bid with the Sunday Mirror and jointly offered £100,000 in another email. The News of the World offered to outbid all others. Sky made an offer but the BBC did not. The Daily Express offered £30,000."

So both the Mail and the Express joined the auction,both papers the fiercest critics of the policy.

But Polly continues her tirade against the press describing them as

"The British press, the worst in the west, demoralises the national psyche. It makes people miserable. It raises false fears. It proclaims that nothing works, everything gets worse, and it urges distrust of any public official or politician. Now it has the government on the run and a chance for Tory victory, there is no holding back its doom-mongering in this most healthy, safe and prosperous age."

Harsh words indeed Polly but obviously not including the Guardian?There are some rather sweeping statements being made and the final paragraph also makes interesting reading

"What is so squalid about these newspapers is their use of figleaf sermons to cover their real business, done with corrupting chequebook, threat, intimidation, invasion of privacy, paparazzi aggression and vicious cruelty. Labour should use this disgrace to reign in chequebook tell-all by public servants, from those at the top such as Christopher Meyer to those at the bottom such as these sailors. It's time to look again at privacy legislation, a quid pro quo for the Freedom of Information Act the press abuses with petty assaults on government. The media is in danger of making government by any party impossible."

Much as I admire a lot of Polly writing I believe this to be really over the top.The main cause of this episode was not the press but the decision by the MOD to allow the sailors to sell their stories in the first place.