Hamilton vows to fight on

Neil Hamilton: Litigation could go to Europe

Former Tory MP Neil Hamilton has vowed to clear his name despite facing a £2.5 million legal bill after losing his libel case appeal.

The Court of Appeal refused to set aside the verdict which ended his bitter five-week High Court contest against Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed last year.

But Mr Hamilton now says he will continue his battle to clear his name and could go to the European Court of Human Rights.

The former MP for Tatton in Cheshire told BBC Breakfast: "I'm determined at the end of the day, if I can do it, to clear my name, because after all one's good name means more than anything else, or should do."

If I hadn't taken action to clear my name I'd never have been able to live with myself

Neil Hamilton

Mr Hamilton had sued over claims made by Mr Fayed in a January 1997 Channel 4 Dispatches programme that he had corruptly demanded and accepted cash payments, gift vouchers and a free holiday at the Paris Ritz in return for asking parliamentary questions on behalf of Harrods.

The appeal was based on allegations by Mr Hamilton that Mr Fayed was involved in paying £10,000 for stolen legal documents taken from dustbins outside the offices of his lawyers.

Mr Hamilton said: "I obviously regret the outcome but if I hadn't taken action to clear my name, I'd never have been able to live with myself, so I'm caught on the horns of a dilemma there.

No funds

"Of course all litigation is risky. Nobody can guarantee the outcome and the odd thing about yesterday is the Court of Appeal decided that I'd proved my case, that Mr Fayed paid money for these documents stolen from my lawyers, but despite having established that as a question of fact, they still gave me nothing."

He added that he had no funds and could not pay the huge legal bill resulting from the court battle, but said he may yet take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Mr Fayed's spokesman Max Clifford said after Thursday's decision that the tycoon was "obviously pleased" that the court had backed the jury's verdict.