Dale Vince discontinues High Court libel claim against Lord Shaun Bailey
Green energy tycoon drops libel claim against Lord Bailey, apologising for misunderstanding court ruling over Hamas comments
Dale Vince has said that he has discontinued his High Court libel claim against former London mayoral candidate Lord Shaun Bailey.
The green energy industrialist sued the peer, whose full title is Lord Bailey of Paddington, in 2024.
The legal row came after comments made by Mr Vince in an interview with Times Radio on 9 October 2023, two days after the Hamas attacks on Israel.
In the interview, Mr Vince said “one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist”, as part of a wider discussion on the issue, lasting about two minutes, extracts from which were published by Guido Fawkes in two articles in March 2024.
Lord Bailey then appeared as a guest on the Patrick Christys Tonight programme on GB News, where he discussed Mr Vince’s comments and said the businessman “called Hamas freedom fighters”, something Mr Vince denied.
In a preliminary ruling in February last year, Mr Justice Pepperall said it was “not substantially true to say that there were reasonable grounds for suspecting that Mr Vince called Hamas freedom fighters”.
But he also said that Lord Bailey’s comments were expressions of opinion, and that the peer had “succeeded in establishing that an honest person could have held the contrary opinion that Mr Vince had called Hamas freedom fighters and, therefore, the parasitic opinion that Mr Vince is an apologist for Hamas”.
Mr Vince posted on social media about Lord Bailey’s case after the ruling, which led to the peer threatening to sue the businessman for libel.
Lord Bailey was also then granted permission to appeal against Mr Justice Pepperall’s ruling in October last year, while Mr Vince was refused it.
On Wednesday, Mr Vince said he was discontinuing his claim against Lord Bailey and said that his posts were based on a “misunderstanding” of the judgment.
He said: “In my posts, I suggested that Lord Bailey had no defence to the claim against him.
“That was based on my misunderstanding of an interim judgment that found that his comments were defamatory and false, but crucially that they were capable of being honest opinion – I missed that.”
He continued: “I apologise to Lord Bailey if anyone interpreted my remarks as an allegation of dishonesty against him.
“I did not intend to suggest that he was dishonest during his GB News interview or that he himself had sought to prevent me from speaking out about Palestine.
“I accept his assurances that the statement he made on GB News was his honest opinion. I have discontinued my claim against him.”
Lawyers for Lord Bailey said that Mr Vince had since made an open offer of amends, to pay Lord Bailey damages and legal costs.
The peer said after Mr Vince’s announcement that he was “delighted to move on”.
He said: “In my first letter to Mr Vince’s lawyers on 1 May 2024, I respectfully suggested that Mr Vince use his platform to clarify what he intended to portray.
“Instead, my family and I were faced with immensely stressful litigation.”
Lord Bailey’s solicitor, David Romain of Egality Law, said: “Lord Bailey’s opinion was based on Mr Vince’s interview.
“Lord Bailey was sued for that opinion and is delighted to have successfully defended the claim against him.
“Mr Vince’s offer to apologise and pay compensation in relation to his social media posts provides further vindication.”
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