Goldsmith v Bhoyrul [1997] 4 All ER 268

• Plaintiff, a political party, was accused of lying by Defendant, a newspaper, whom it sued.

Buckley J

• Denied the claim, because the principle that in a free and democratic society it was contrary to the public interest to permit those who held office in government or were responsible for public administration to sue in defamation applied to a political party putting itself forward for office or to govern.

• He saw this as analogous to Derbyshire.

• In reaching his decision, he had borne in mind that:

(i) any individual candidate, official or other person connected with the party who was sufficiently identified could sue;

(ii) the party can by public announcement answer back;

(iii) in this particular case, although the second named plaintiff is a corporation, there is no suggestion that it has any purpose other than to act as a political party.

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