Journalist spread nonsense, says Banks as libel case opens

A PROMINENT Brexit backer has accused a journalist of spreading “nonsense” in a personal attack on him, as he sues her for defamation.

Arron Banks, a major donor to the Leave campaign, has brought a libel claim against Carole Cadwalladr, a journalist at The Observer and The Guardian.

Ms Cadwalladr said in a Ted Talk and a tweet in 2019 that he had told “lies... about his covert relationship with the Russian government”. Mr Banks was one of a number of people investigated by the National Crime Agency over £8million loaned to the Leave campaign. It found no evidence of any criminal offences being committed and Mr Banks strongly denies accepting any money from the Russians. The NCA concluded that Mr Banks was the true source of the funds, being the ultimate beneficial owner of the company who made the loan to him.

Mr Banks, 55, said in his witness statement submitted to the High Court in London: “Carole was a high-profile investigative journalist and here she was telling the world that I had lied about a secret relationship with the Russians over Brexit funding. This was nonsense and it went too far.”

Mr Banks’s claim is being heard at the High Court where he was questioned yesterday by lawyers for Ms Cadwalladr, who asked what he expected the nature of the meeting to be when he was invited to the Russian Ambassadors’ residence in 2015.

He said: “I thought that if there was an invitation to visit the Russian ambassador then it would be very interesting. I certainly wasn’t overthinking it the way you are suggesting. I didn’t automatically think there was a hidden agenda.”

Lawyers for Ms Cadwalladr said she did not intend to allege that Mr Banks had received funding from the Russian government in relation to the Brexit campaign, and that her comments were “part of a discussion about matters of the highest public interest”. She is running a public interest defence and is not alleging that her statement was true. The case continues on Monday.