Galloway libel action reaches the High Court
George Galloway’s libel action against the Daily Telegraph over allegations he received money from Saddam Hussein, began at the High Court today.
The controversial MP for Glasgow Kelvin, who was expelled from the Labour Party over comments made during the war against Iraq and who now heads the Respect Party, has always strongly denied allegations and began a libel action against the paper last year.
The case, which will be heard without a jury, centres on allegations made by The Telegraph in April 2003 that Mr Galloway received £375,000 in oil money from Saddam Hussein’s regime.
A number of witnesses are expected to appear for The Telegraph, including the reporter who broke the story, David Blair, the paper’s then editor Charles Moore along with others involved in the production of the story.
The paper’s lawyers are expected to cite the qualified-privilege Reynolds defence in its rejection of the libel claims. This defence was developed after a case involving The Times and the then Irish leader Albert Reynolds. Then The Times argued that although some of its allegations were unproven, it was acting in the public interest and within the standards of responsible journalism in going ahead with publication.
Though The Times lost the case, subsequently judges have accepted a public interest defence against libel exists, though this is the most high-profile case to test the defence.
Mr Galloway’s legal team includes Heather Rogers, a barrister from Matrix Chambers – headed up by Cherie Blair. His senior counsel is Richard Rampton QC, who represented McDonald’s in the “McLibel” case.
The Daily Telegraph’s team will be led by James Price QC, who defended Hello magazine last year in the privacy case brought by Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.
Opening the case in the High Court, Mr Galloway’s barrister Mr Rampton QC told the court that Mr Galloway has been a “longstanding opponent of tyranny and oppression”, with one of his key targets being the “tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein and his cronies in Iraq.”
Mr Galloway is expected to appear on the stand later in the case, to take questions both from his barrister and the counsel for The Telegraph.
