Stuart Campbell Against Kezia Dugdale
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Lord President,Lord Menzies,Lord Brodie |
| Neutral Citation | [2020] CSIH 27 |
| Docket Number | XA111/19 |
| Date | 27 May 2020 |
| Court | Court of Session |
| Published date | 27 May 2020 |
FIRST DIVISION, INNER HOUSE, COURT OF SESSION
[2020] CSIH 27
XA111/19
Lord President
Lord Menzies
Lord Brodie
OPINION OF THE COURT
delivered by LORD CARLOWAY, the LORD PRESIDENT
in the remit from the Sheriff Appeal Court
in the cause
STUART CAMPBELL
Pursuer and Appellant
against
KEZIA DUGDALE
Defender and Respondent
______________
Pursuer and Appellant: Sandison QC; Halliday Campbell WS
Defender and Respondent: Dunlop QC; Bannatyne Kirkwood France & Co
27 May 2020
Introduction
[1] The pursuer challenges the sheriff’s interlocutor of 17 April 2019, which assoilzies the
defender in the pursuer’s action of defamation. The sheriff held that the defender’s article in
the Daily Record newspaper was defamatory in that it contained an innuendo that the
2
pursuer was homophobic. However, he went on to determine that the defender had
established the defence of fair comment.
[2] The issues are, first, whether the statement in the article was a comment or an
assertion of fact. Only if it were comment might the defence of fair comment apply.
Secondly, if it was a comment, was there sufficient reference to facts which were true and
upon which the comment could be based? Thirdly, was the comment fair? The pursuer also
takes issue with the sheriff’s assessment of damages at £100.
Background
[3] The pursuer has operated a blog called Wings Over Scotland since 2011. He had a
related Twitter account. The blog had around 200,000 to 300,000 views per month. The
Twitter feed had 60,000 followers. The pursuer’s style can be rude, especially about unionist
politicians, including the defender. The pursuer had previously described the defender as a
serial liar.
[4] At the material time, the defender was a Member of the Scottish Parliament. She was
the leader of the Scottish Labour Party. She wrote a weekly column, or rather page, for the
Daily Record newspaper. This would refer to a variety of topical subjects.
[5] On 3 March 2017, during a conference of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist
Party, which he attended, the pursuer tweeted as follows:
“Oliver Mundell is the sort of public speaker that makes you wish his dad had
embraced his homosexuality sooner”.
Oliver Mundell was, and remains, a Conservative MSP. His father, David Mundell, is a
Conservative MP. He was the Secretary of State for Scotland at the material time. On
13 January 2016, around 14 months prior to the pursuer’s tweet, David Mundell had stated
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