View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Publishers
  2. Magazines
July 31, 2014

Spectator apologises to Irish businessman over wrong suggestion he was a ‘front man’ for Qataris

By PA Media Lawyer

An Irish businessman has accepted an apology from the Spectator over a story that wrongly suggested he was a front man for Qataris.

The claims about Paddy McKillen were made in an article relating to Claridge's Hotel in London in a Taki column. 

The magazine's solicitor, Simon McAleese, told Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, President of the High Court in Dublin: "On March 29, 2014, in the print and online editions of The Spectator magazine, the defendant published an article in Taki's column entitled 'It might be time to avoid Claridge's'.

"This article referred to an 'Irish front man' for the Qataris, which could have been taken as a reference to Irish businessman Paddy McKillen."

McAleese went on: "The defendant's column had incorrectly assumed that Mr McKillen's investment in Claridge's was being financed by Qatari funding.

"It accepts that this was incorrect and that it was therefore wrong to describe Mr McKillen as a front man for the Qataris.

"It withdraws any corresponding criticism of Mr McKillen and apologises to him for its error."

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

After the hearing – which McKillen did not attend – his solicitor, Paul Tweed, said he had been "totally vindicated" by this comprehensive and categoric retraction and apology".

His client, he added, "will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action to protect his business from any future attempts to undermine his reputation".

According to The Guardian, McKillen has for more than two years been involved in a legal dispute with Sirs David and Frederick Barclay, who own the Spectator, over the ownership of the Maybourne Hotel Group, which Claridge's and other hotels are a part of.

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network