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I'm not sure it is, tbh.
It is. A defamatory statement is presumed to be false, unless the defendant can prove its truth. In other words, in defamation cases you are guilty until proven innocent.
I think you'll find that the fact someone else has already said it - such as your newspaper and pointing at a list examples - is no defence either.
If it was, Sally Bercow's tweet "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? innocent face" wouldn't have cost her £150k.
You might want to go away and educate yourself on libel law...
Fox-
You might want to go away and educate yourself on libel law...
I might.
So in this instance, the papers either knew they'd be able to substantiate the allegations or gambled they wouldn't be sued because the Tories knew most if not all of the allegations might well be true and they didn't want to have the story run and run. Because I'm guessing their lawyers looked at the reporting and gave it the green light.
ketsbaia
I'm not sure it is, tbh.
But whether or not it is, literally every national newspaper ran the story at the time and their lawyers presumably took the view it wasn't defamatory and they would not be sued, which is kind of my point.