Comments on: Press Release

By: Graham Brown-Martin

Graham Brown-Martin — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:50:06 +0000

Congratulations on this well earned outcome against poor journalism (churnalism).

By: PB

PB — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:51:59 +0000

Can’t see anything on Iain Dale’s blog about this…

By: Carter Ruck release: Mail on Sunday apologises to MP over Dale story | DAILYMAIL

Sat, 23 May 2009 07:56:01 +0000

[...] Full release at this link… [...]

By: ThePickards » Nadine Dorries: The Witchhunt

ThePickards » Nadine Dorries: The Witchhunt — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:02:20 +0000

[...] Only that’s where it started to unravel slightly. Tom denied it; no-one was able to provide any evidence to the contrary, and eventually… Associated Newspapers Limited has unreservedly withdrawn the allegations, apologised to Mr Watson for the distress the article caused him and his family and has joined in the reading of the Statement in Open Court today. In addition, Associated Newspapers Limited has agreed to pay Mr Watson substantial damages, together with his legal costs.Tom-Watson.co.uk [...]

By: Tim Ireland

Tim Ireland — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:15:13 +0000

Iain Dale: “Get your facts right. I apologised directly to Tom on the evening it happened (11 April)”
http://bit.ly/M0uUS

Iain Dale: “Sunny, get your facts right. I did apologise to Tom personally by email on 13 April”
http://bit.ly/XG0lf

Way to get your facts right, Iain.

The fact is, Iain did not publish an apology immediately, it took the involvement of lawyers to get him to even admit to being wrong on his site, and he later implied* that by using lawyers Tom had something to hide.

(*Paul Staines, the most likely source of this false allegation, did the same.)

Also, while Iain may have withdrawn the allegation from his site rather quickly, it made it to print and was widely repeated, and for over two days he allowed the majority of his readers to continue thinking that Tom had been CCed on those emails. By his own admission, he only brought people up to speed if they emailed him and asked about it.

The day this news came out, iain responded to someone asking about this press release by referring them to an earlier statement that *again* without evidence alleged Tom Watson’s direct involvement in the ’smeargate’ emails (and was later forced to delete that comment).

By: Carter Ruck release: Mail on Sunday apologises to MP over Dale story | Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog

Fri, 22 May 2009 07:47:14 +0000

[...] Full release at this link… [...]

By: brummytaff

brummytaff — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:05:25 +0000

Thanks for the letter Tom,
now lets see a robust response to the expenses issues in time for the elections on June 4th.
Sandwell and West Brom does not need more BNP councillors, specially on the Lyng. So come out fighting!
Bob

By: Iain Dale is wrong. « A blog from the back room.

Iain Dale is wrong. « A blog from the back room. — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:48:54 +0000

[...] At the height of the e-mail furore (how long ago it seems…), Iain libelled Tom Watson in the National press. Iain apologised at the time for that error, but when you allege someone has helped organise a scandalous piece of behaviour you’re putting their career at risk and you have to accept all the consequences. [...]

By: Tom P

Tom P — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:45:02 +0000

actually he’s put a statement up now

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:22:48 +0000

Apologies Mr Watson, for Harris read Watson in the above post.