JONATHAN Aitken, the Treasury minister, unleashed one of the sharpest counter-attacks against the British media when he denounced ╥wicked lies╙ told by the Guardian and Granada TV╒s World in Action about his business activities. He promised a campaign to drive out ╥bent and twisted journalism╙.
In a spectacular move to rescue a cabinet career dogged by repeated allegations of impropriety, Mr Aitken announced that he had issued libel writs against the Guardian, its editor-in-chief, Peter Preston, and David Pallister, who wrote yesterday╒s page one report in conjunction with Granada.
The battle that Mr Aitken has now joined with the media intensified last night when Granada TV defied an explicit threat by Mr Aitken of legal action by transmitting with all the central allegations intact.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury read a prepared statement at a tense, 10-minute press conference at Tory headquarters. Mr Aitken rejected:
Ñ Allegations that he ╥tried to arrange girls for a Saudi prince and his entourage at the Inglewood Health Hydro╙, of which he was a director. The prince had never stayed there, his only visit being for lunch some 13 years ago, when no girls were present. One alleged source had been dismissed for dishonesty.
Ñ ╥Outrageous falsehoods╙ about improper commercial relations with two British-Lebanese arms dealers while minister for defence procurement (1992-94). He had referred the dealers to Ministry of Defence officials, and there was no requirement to record his connection in the Register of Members Interests;
Ñ ╥A confusing old-hat re-hash╙ of earlier charges about a stay at the Paris Ritz, involving business associates of the Saudi royal family. He did not meet the businessmen, who did not stay at the Ritz.
Denying the renewed charges as ╥either inaccurate, wrong or false╙ and offering detailed rebuttals ╤ later challenged by the Guardian and Granada ╤ Mr Aitken concluded with a warning to Britain╒s press, ╥the best media in the world and the worst╙.
╥If it falls to me to start a fight to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism in our country with the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of fair play, so be it. I am ready for the fight,╙ he said.
Mr Aitken, a great-nephew of the press baron, Lord Beaverbrook, is clearly determined to stand his ground with a high-risk strategy. He will pay his own legal costs.
Mr Aitken accused the Guar-dian of a campaign to discredit him. He was appointed to the Cabinet last year, after 18 years as a backbencher and businessman, and was first enmeshed in a row with the Guardian over payment of a bill at the Paris Ritz. He was cleared of impropriety by the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robin Butler. After accusing the BBC of anti-Tory bias, he was faced with fresh claims by the Independent about BMARC, an arms export firm of which he was once a director.
