Tories to sue newspaper for libel

Mr Howard has put immigration at the heart of his campaign

The Conservatives are suing the Times for libel for allegedly defaming their campaign director, Lynton Crosby.

The High Court writ follows articles claiming Mr Crosby had told Tory leader Michael Howard the party could not win the next general election.

The Tories say the claims were "completely untrue" and the newspaper did not give them a chance to respond.

The paper did print a letter from Tory co-chairman Lord Saatchi saying the report was "totally untrue".

The letter said: "Anyone who knows either of us and what we have achieved in our careers should know that "second place" does not enter our vocabulary.

"We are in the business of winning an overall majority at the general election and we believe that this objective is achievable."

Damages claim

Mr Crosby helped win John Howard four elections in his native Australia.

The Times said Mr Crosby told the party leader to focus on trying to increase the Tories' Commons presence by 25 to 30 seats.

When the article appeared Mr Crosby said in a statement: "I have never had any such conversation... and I do not hold that view."

Mr Howard later added there was not "one iota" of truth in the report.

Now the Tories are seeking aggravated damages from Times Newspapers, Andrew Pierce, its diary editor, and political reporters Helen Rumbelow and Tom Baldwin.

In a statement, a Conservative Party spokesman said: "The Times ran a story suggesting that we could not win the next general election, which is completely untrue and to which they failed to offer us any chance to respond.

"We gave them every opportunity to withdraw the story and apologise, which they also failed to do. This is why we are taking this action."