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Article: Damage: John Major's libel. (UK Prime Minister's suit against 'New Statesman & Society')
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- July 10, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DOES foreign travel do something strange to Britain's prime minister? Flying from India five months ago, Mr Major decided to sue New Statesman & Society, a down-at-heel left-wing weekly, for an article which said that he was not sleeping with his cook. On June 6th, in Tokyo for the G7 summit, he abandoned his case, in return for Pounds1,001 ($1,500), his legal costs but no apology.
Steve Platt, New Statesman's editor, calls the damages "almost derisory". Not derisory is the Pounds150,000-plus which New Statesman is having to pay to the magazine's printers and distributors, whom the prime minister also sued, and who settled earlier. Mr Platt is not a man given to ...