An MP expelled from the Conservative party has brought legal proceedings against former health secretary Matt Hancock over an allegedly libellous tweet.
The High Court on Friday heard an application, brought by Hancock, to have Andrew Bridgen’s libel claim struck out.
The case centres on Hancock’s tweet, which read: ‘The 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’. Hancock also included a link to him asking his parliamentary question.
The court was told the tweet did not name Bridgen and was posted shortly after the Conservative Party withdrew the whip from Bridgen following a tweet earlier that day linking to an article about Covid vaccines. It said: ‘As one consultant cardiologist said to me this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust’.
Aidan Eardley KC, for Hancock, said the application to strike out the claim was ‘on the basis that, as presently formulated, the particulars of claim set out no proper case’. He told Mrs Justice Steyn, that Bridgen’s case had not been properly articulated.
He added: ‘This claim must be on the basis of ... innuendo. Even if you were to assume the facts Mr Bridgen pleads, they would still not lead to a reasonable reader to form a link between this tweet and Mr Bridgen.’
Christopher Newman, for Bridgen, told the court there was ‘not one piece of evidence saying “who is Mr Hancock talking about? Who is this MP?”’. He added that Bridgen’s tweet, his loss of the whip, and then Hancock’s tweet were ‘part of the same chain of events’.
He added: ‘The case on reference will succeed. It is so strong, my client could have made a reverse summary judgment application on the evidence.’
Judgment was reserved.
