Former health secretary Matt Hancock has lost a bid to have a libel claim brought against him by a fellow MP completely thrown out by a High Court judge.
Andrew Bridgen wants to “clear his name” after Mr Hancock allegedly accused him of antisemitism in a “malicious” social media post, the High Court was previously told.
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The January 2023 tweet followed Mr Bridgen, a former Tory MP who now sits as an independent, posting a comment about COVID-19 vaccines.
A judge was told that, on 11 January, Mr Bridgen shared a link to an article “concerning data about deaths and other adverse reactions linked to COVID vaccines” and stated: “As one consultant cardiologist said to me, this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust.”
Hours later, Mr Hancock wrote on Twitter – now known as X – that “disgusting and dangerous antisemitic, anti-vax, anti-scientific conspiracy theories spouted by a sitting MP this morning are unacceptable and have absolutely no place in our society”.
Mr Bridgen believes “every person reading the tweet knew it was about me”, that it was “seriously defamatory and untrue” and intended to cause “grievous harm” to his reputation, the court was told.
At a preliminary hearing in London earlier this month, Mr Hancock’s lawyers argued the claim against him should be thrown out as it did not have “a realistic prospect of success” and because of the “lack of a properly articulated case”.
In a ruling on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Steyn “struck out” certain parts of Mr Bridgen’s case but did not dismiss the whole claim, instead giving him the opportunity to make amendments and “remedy the deficiencies”.
Aidan Eardley KC,…
