Banker Rothschild left with £1.3m bill after losing appeal over Daily Mail Peter Mandelson ‘puppet-master’ claim

Banker Nathaniel Rothschild has lost his appeal against a High Court decision rejecting his libel case against the Daily Mail.

According to the Daily Mail he is now left with a costs bill for both sides in excess of £1.3m.

Rothschild sued over a Daily Mail article from May 2010 which he said portrayed him as “puppet master” who brought together Lord Mandelson and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

The newspaper reported that Rothschild took Mandelson on a trip to Siberia in January 2005 when he was European Commissioner for Trade in order to impress Deripasca.

Lord Justice laws has upheld the High Court decision made in February last year.

In that judgment Mr Justice Tugendhat said: “Mr Caldecott [for Associated] submits that on his own version of events, or on the facts that I have found, Mr Rothschild's conduct was inappropriate in a number of respects. I accept that submission.

“In my judgment that conduct foreseeably brought Lord Mandelson's public office and personal integrity into disrepute and exposed him to accusations of conflict of interest, and it gave rise to reasonable grounds to suspect that Lord Mandelson had engaged in improper discussions with Mr Deripaska about aluminium."

Rothschild was ordered to pay Associated’s Costs, including £50,000 within 28 days.