Newspaper loses Galloway libel appeal
British MP George Galloway – favourite for eviction from the Big Brother house – was spared a Big Bill today when the Daily Telegraph newspaper lost its appeal over a libel action.
If the newspaper had won the case at the Court of Appeal, the Respect MP would have faced a legal bill estimated at around £2m (€2.9m) and bankruptcy.
Mr Galloway has already admitted the sum would force him into bankruptcy.
But the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, together with Lords Justices Chadwick and Laws, all dismissed the newspaper’s argument that the 2003 story that the MP received money from Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was covered by qualified privilege.
The judges also agreed that the £150,000 (€218,000) damages awarded to the MP by High Court judge Mr Justice Eady in December 2004 should not be reduced.
“Given the seriousness of the key allegation Mr Galloway had taken money from Iraq for personal profit, we can see no basis upon which this court could interfere with the amount of damages.”
James Price QC, representing the newspaper, had told the judges at the hearing last year that it was in the public interest to publish documents found by its foreign correspondent David Blair inside the Iraqi foreign ministry after the fall of Baghdad.
The newspaper was then entitled to comment and offer its own interpretation that the documents appeared to show he received money from Saddam Hussein’s regime, said Mr Price.
He said the story, published in April 2003, was covered by privilege because it was “of truly global significance”.
It was in the public interest whether the documents were true or false, he said.
Mr Galloway, who represented Glasgow Kelvin for Labour, has always denied ever seeking or receiving money from Saddam Hussein.
He was expelled from the Labour Party for comments about the Iraq war and went on to win the Bethnal Green and Bow seat as leader of the anti-war Respect party, ousting Labour’s Oona King.
