Randolph Churchill Sues Nabarro For Slander

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29345, 26 October 1960, Page 22

Randolph Churchill Sues Nabarro For Slander

(N.Z. Press Association— Copyright)

LONDON, October 24. Mr Randolph Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill’s journalist son, told a High Court hearing today that he had ”... never admired Sir Anthony Eden’s qualities as a statesman.” Mr Churchill was giving evidence on his own behalf in an action for slander he has brought

against a Conservative member of Parliament, Mr Gerald Nabarro. He claimed Mr Nabarro had publicly called him a coward when referring to his article on the Suez affair, and the former Prime Minister’s part in it. Both Mr Churchill and Mr Nabarro are among the most ebullient and outspoken personalities of the Conservative Party. Mr Nabarro, who sports a huge moustachio. is a frequent critic of the Government on economic affairs. The case arose from the Suez controversy of 1956 when Britain and France launched an armed intervention in Egypt. Mr Gerald Gardiner, Q.C., for Mr Churchill, said his client had come to the conclusion that the Suez adventure had been a mistake. A series of articles by him on Suez and Sir Anthony Eden, was published in a newspaper. At a public meeting Mr Nabarro referred to the Churchill articles, and was reported to have said: ‘‘This was a pernicious, cowardly and uncalled for action in the present circumstances. . . . Mr Churchill made his attack in the newspapers knowing full well that Sir Anthony could not reply. “That is the action of a c<Avard. I grieve that these things should have been done when Sir Anthony, like other Ministers of that time, cannot reveal Cabinet secrets in his lifetime?’ Mr Gardiner said that was rubbish because Sir AntHony Eden at that very time was engaged in writing his own biography—“dealing as fully as he liked with Suez for the not inconsiderable sum of £100.000.” Mr Nabarro’s defence was that the words were not defamatory. He alternatively pleaded that they were fair comment, made bona fide and without malice on a matter of public interest. The case was adjourned until tomorrow.