Olympics boss wins £50,000 for false quote
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Barbara Cassani, the leader of London's bid to stage the Olympic Games in 2012, has won at least £50,000 in compensation after a newspaper falsely claimed she made derogatory remarks about the Prime Minister.
The Daily Telegraph, which wrongly quoted Ms Cassani describing Tony Blair as not "that bright" and not interested in Olympic sport beyond beach volleyball, will also print a full apology next week. The case has caused acute embarrassment at the Telegraph, which is facing a possible takeover and has been an enthusiastic supporter of London's bid for the Games.
The newspaper's lawyers concluded that they were unable to defend a writ issued by Ms Cassani because longhand notes taken by one of its diary reporters during an impromptu interview with her at the WH Smith book awards ceremony last month did not provide sufficient evidence.
A statement that is believed to comprehensively vindicate Ms Cassani's denial will be read at the High Court on 22 April, bringing to an end the libel action conducted by her lawyers, Schillings. In addition the Telegraph will pay at least £50,000 in costs and damages.
Its chief executive, Jeremy Deedes, told The Independent: "At this stage all I can say is that we have settled our differences. We will be putting something suitable in the paper."
The offending article, which appeared in the "Londonspy" diary and was flagged up on the front page on 23 March, prompted Ms Cassani to immediately reassure No 10 that she was "mortified".
She was wrongly quoted as saying: "To be frank he [Blair] wasn't that bright ... the subject he got most animated about was beach volleyball". In further remarks inside the paper Ms Cassani was quoted as saying Mr Blair "took an interest in what I was saying" but "didn't seem particularly knowledgeable about anything".
It continued: "I was asking about his links with America, and he didn't seem certain about what he was saying. He asked me lots of questions about what I thought, but his responses to my questions were slow."
A spokesman for London 2012 declined to comment yesterday.