On Friday 24 June 2022 Steyn J granted Arron Banks permission to appeal from the dismissal of his libel claim against Carole Cadwalladr [2022] EWHC 1417 (QB).
The claim was dismissed (in respect of the continuing publication of allegations originally made in 2019 after April 2020. The Judge ruled that although Ms Cadwalladr had no reasonable belief that this continuing publication was in the public interest it was necessary for Mr Banks to prove that that continuing publication alone (ie stripping away the impact of all the preceding publication) had caused or was likely to cause serious harm to his reputation. She decided that he had not proved this.
The Judgment noted that this issue had not been previously argued and decided that the issue should be considered by the Court of Appeal and that there was a real prospect of Mr Banks’ appeal succeeding.
William McCormick QC, instructed by Sue Thackeray of Kingsley Napley LLP represented Mr Banks at trial.