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Sunday, 9 April, 2000, 20:55 GMT 21:55 UK
Wardle to sue Telegraph
Former minister Charles Wardle is to sue the Daily Telegraph newspaper over coverage of his decision to stand down as a Conservative MP.
Mr Wardle, 60, has taken a £120,000-a-year job with Harrods boss Mohamed al-Fayed, the man behind the "cash for questions" affair that engulfed the Conservative Party. But he rejected claims that his decision to stand down as an MP at the next general election had been forced on him by local activists planning to deselect him.
Instead, in his resignation letter, he blamed the pressures of "drab" and "unpleasant" Westminster life. "There are better things to do with my life than to scrap with the shrill, deeply unpleasant faction inside and outside Westminster who are in danger of dislocating the party from the wider electorate." He went on: "Life has become very drab in the House of Commons and this awful Labour Government treats parliament with contempt.
Mr Wardle's appointment to Harrods surprised commentators because he was the Conservative Home Office minister who rejected Mr al-Fayed's application for a British passport. But it appears that Mr al-Fayed is prepared to forgive Mr Wardle. A letter from Mr al-Fayed to the MP on 7 April stated: "You are a man of too much integrity and decency to waste your time with the low life and half men in Westminster." A spokesman for The Daily Telegraph said: "We received a letter from Mr Wardle's lawyers on Friday night and we will be answering it in due course." The former Tory MP, Neil Hamilton, failed in his bid to sue Mr al-Fayed for libel last year after the Harrods owner said he had paid Mr Hamilton to ask questions in parliament. |
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