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A SMALL LIBEL SUIT
Winston Churchill had been First Lord of the Admiralty during WW1. As far
as anyone knew, he had acquitted himself well. Or had he? In 1921,
Lord Alfred Douglas accused Churchill of having fudged a little data about
the Battle of Jutland, which had occurred in 1916. The British lost
a large number of men and ships in this inconclusive encounter. Worried
about the resulting low morale, Churchill wrote a very strong, upbeat editorial
that redefined the fiasco as a victory. Lord Douglas discovered this
and turned it into a deliberate scam. When word of the defeat was
released, British stocks plummeted. So, said Douglas, Churchill had some
Jewish friends of his buy up stock dirt cheap. Then Churchill wrote his
misleading story in order to make stock prices soar again. Big profits
were made and kickbacks given. As you can expect, Churchill sued,
and Douglas could prove nothing in court. In 1923, Douglas was convicted
of libel and given six months in prison and a fine. (Oh, a Jewish newspaper
editor called Douglas some nasty names over this, and Douglas sued him
for libel. He won a whole farthing in damages.) |
