- guardian.co.uk, Sunday June 22 1997 17.40 BST
Why was Aitken so desperate to lie about it? There were four elements involved - arms deals; the Conservative Party; a Minister with an expensive lifestyle; and wealthy Saudi princes. Jonathan Aitken's humiliation should mark not the end of investigations into these matters, but the real beginning.
And the story could have been very different. All the legal cards were stacked in Aitken's favour. The Guardian and Granada had to endure the oppressive costs of defence, and to meet all the burden of proof. The judge - extraordinarily this was not a trial by jury - excluded one chief witness and insisted that some of the material had a meaning that could not be defended. And, most significant of all for free speech, the courts again refused to allow a defence of qualified privilege - that responsible publication about the fitness for office of public figures should have some protection. As Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said in last month's James Cameron lecture, it is time for a new deal on privacy and free speech.
Aitken may have lost; but the case should never have been allowed to come to court.
