Guardian man George Monbiot's £25,000 charity fine for Lord McAlpine tweets

 
Settled: Lord McAlpine was subject to widespread rumours Photo: Andrew Stuart/PA Wire
Photo: Andrew Stuart/PA Wire

A Guardian columnist has agreed to do £25,000 worth of charity work over the next three years as part of an unprecedented legal settlement after he tweeted defamatory comments about Tory peer Lord McAlpine during the Jimmy Savile scandal.

George Monbiot said: “In November 2012, at a time when I had in excess of 55,000 followers on Twitter, I did a stupid and thoughtless thing. I sent tweets hinting that Lord McAlpine was the person discussed in the Newsnight investigation of child abuse in North Wales.

“As we now know, Newsnight’s story was completely wrong. In doing so, I helped to stoke an atmosphere of innuendo around an innocent man. I remain extremely sorry for the harm I helped to cause him.

“I now have an opportunity to make some amends. I have met with Andrew Reid of RMPI LLP, Lord McAlpine’s representatives, and they have suggested what is, as far as I can discover, an unprecedented settlement. They would like me to carry out, over the next three years, work on behalf of three charities of my choice whose value amounts to £25,000.

“I accepted the suggestion immediately and without reservation. I feel the proposed settlement reflects very well on Lord McAlpine, who is seeking nothing for himself, but wants to see work done which could be of great benefit to others.”

Sally Bercow, wife of Commons Speaker John Bercow, is now thought to be the only leading personality who has so far refused to settle with McAlpine over her tweets and she is facing a showdown in court.

McAlpine has made a series of other settlements, including £185,000 with the BBC and £125,000 with ITV’s This Morning, which also did much to stoke the false allegations.

Many other tweeters have reached deals with McAlpine’s lawyers, although action against anyone with under 500 followers was dropped in return for a modest donation to Children In Need.

Monbiot added he had learnt a valuable lesson. “Check your facts and think before you tweet!” he said.

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