At the Home Affairs select committee, The Sun’s managing editor Paul Clarkson was asked about Islamophobia. His response?

“In the media, in the mainstream media I don’t believe it is an issue.”

This was after the new Express editor-in-chief Gary Jones admitted some of the publication’s stories had contributed to an “Islamophobic sentiment” within the media.

At Home Affairs committee, The Sun’s managing editor Paul Clarkson (left) asked about islamophobia: “In the media, in the mainstream media I don’t believe it is an issue" pic.twitter.com/YQSOsBmaD9 — Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) April 24, 2018

Your mole wonders whether Paul Clarkson either doesn’t read The Sun, or sees one of the most-read papers in the country as outside the “mainstream media” – because The Sun has been accused multiple times of Islamophobic coverage.

Last August, more than 100 MPs signed a letter of protest over an opinion piece in which columnist Trevor Kavanagh said Britain had to tackle a “Muslim Problem”. And the paper had to run a correction after its infamous 2015 front page: “1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis”.

Ipso have UPHELD the complaint against The Sun for the #1in5Muslims story. Make sure it's spread far and wide... pic.twitter.com/mGCARaaayJ — The Sun Apologies (@SunApology) March 26, 2016

It also had to clarify a story in June 2016 when it implied officials had determined a train crash had been caused by a fasting Muslim train driver (it hadn’t), and in the same year had to make clear “Islam as a religion does no support so-called ‘honour killings’”, after it ran a story referring to an “Islamic honour attack”.

Perhaps Clarkson missed these stories, or is, as ever, not letting facts get in the way.