It is remarkable how much cant has poured from the press in
the week since John Major issued his libel writ against New Statesman and Society.
At some point in the two years before last week's events,
nearly every national newspaper had made some knowing reference to the rumour
about Mr Major and Claire Latimer, who runs a catering company that does
parties for Number Ten.
Those references were made only because of the wide
knowledge of the rumour among the public. Gossip spreads exponentially and
this snippet had been doing the rounds for some time. By the time the Statesman published, it was common
currency in saloon bars throughout the land. Millions had heard it.
Journalists, particularly the diary and gossip columnists
who make their livings by making their readers feel like insiders, knew that
titillating references to the rumour would be widely recognised. The Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Evening
Standard, the Observer, Today and the Independent on Sunday all ran items with precisely this goal. Yet
these same papers, in unison, condemned the New
Statesman for having the gall to publish a sober, well-researched article
making it clear that “no one has produced a shred of evidence" to support
the rumour. The writs from Mr Major and Ms Latimer were what the Statesman deserved, they crowed.
In Tribune's view,
this consensus is not just hypocritical but wrong. Unlike the big newspapers,
which ran the rumours as pure nudge-nudge, wink-wink, never making it clear
that there was no evidence for them, the Statesman
treated the story responsibly and without sensationalism. Far from suing for
libel, Mr Major and Ms Latimer should both have been grateful to the authors of
the article for having cleared the air and exposed the rumour machine for what
it is.
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Mr Major acted
impulsively in deciding to sue. The costs of defending against a libel action
being what they are, the New Statesman's
survival will be imperilled if the case goes much further. If the Statesman goes under, the British left
will be deprived of one of its few remaining periodicals committed to open
debate, and British democracy will lose one of its most important gadflies. If
Mr Major brings the Statesman down,
he will do infinitely more damage to his reputation among democrats than the
most calamitous conceivable libel could ever do.
