Libel claim against Matt Hancock thrown out

17 minutes ago

News image — The former health secretary has had a libel case against him thrown out

PA Media A man standing outside. He has thin light brown hair and is frowning slightly with his mouth open. He is wearing a blue suit with a white shirt and a light brown tie. — The former health secretary has had a libel case against him thrown out

A libel case against former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been thrown out at the Court of Appeal.

Hancock, who was MP for West Suffolk from 2010 to 2024, was accused of making a malicious online comment about fellow former Tory MP Andrew Bridgen.

He appealed an earlier court decision that Bridgen's claim could go to trial, and on Wednesday at the Court of Appeal three judges ruled in his favour.

Speaking after the decision, Hancock said he was "right to call out" what he "clearly saw were anti-vax and antisemitic conspiracy theories".

In a post in January 2023, Bridgen shared a link to an article about adverse effects after Covid-19 vaccines and added: "As one consultant cardiologist said to me, this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust."

Hours later, Hancock shared a video of him asking a question in the House of Commons on X, captioned: "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."

That led to Bridgen suing for libel, stating that people would have believed him to be antisemitic.

PA Media A man stands outside a large court building. He is smiling at the camera. He has short dark hair with some grey in it. He is wearing a navy suit with a white shirt and a red and blue tie. — Andrew Bridgen said those reading Matt Hancock's post would have believed him to be antisemitic

In April last year at the High Court, Mrs Justice Collins Rice said she believed there were "compelling reasons for further investigation at trial" and refused Hancock's attempt to have the claim thrown out.

Earlier this year, Hancock appealed against that decision and Lord Justice Warby, sitting with Lady Justice King and Lady Justice Whipple at the Court of Appeal, said in a judgment on Wednesday that Mrs Justice Collins Rice had "erred in law".

"The Holocaust was a deliberate genocidal campaign to eradicate an entire people for motives of ethnic or religious prejudice. The Covid vaccine rollout was not," the judge said.

"On the undisputed facts it was, at least in part, a benevolent public health programme with the aim of saving lives."

He added that Bridgen's post "did not suggest that the vaccine rollout was worse than the Holocaust, but it did expressly suggest some form of comparability" and that it suggested the vaccines were a "crime against humanity".

Hancock was granted a summary judgment – a legal step which ends the claim in his favour without a trial.

Afterwards he said it was a case that "should never have been brought" and that "people must be free to state their own opinions without fear of libel action".

"I was right to call out what I clearly saw were anti-vax and antisemitic conspiracy theories, and this judgment reaffirms that right," he added.

Posting on X after the judgment, Bridgen said the three judges at the hearing in May were "clearly thinking about declaring me the winner".

He added: "Yet nine weeks later that same panel produced a unanimous written judgment in which they found against me on every single point, thus handing the victory to Mr Hancock without a trial, and labelling one of my arguments 'egregious', a point not put to my legal team at the oral hearing.

"It is hard to understand why the written judgment does not reflect what took place at the oral hearing."

Bridgen said he would be seeking advice to see if he could take the case to the Supreme Court.