Paul Flynn MP is battling a £300,000 libel lawsuit from Endowment Justice, a West Midlands firm

MP's outrage at [pounds sterling]300,000 libel battle. (24-APR-05) Daily Mail (London) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News): "Apr. 24--


Maverick Labour MP Paul Flynn, who once suggested that grants be given to people selling magic mushrooms, is fighting for more than his seat in Newport, south Wales.

With the election just eleven days away, the MP is battling a [pounds sterling]300,000 libel lawsuit from Endowment Justice, a West Midlands firm which offers to help people claim compensation for mis-sold endowments."


In a High Court writ filed this month, the firm alleges Flynn made libellous comments on his website and in a specialist magazine for financial advisers. The web reference has been pulled, but Flynn says it was "minute" and published for two days only.

In the article, published in February, Flynn referred generally to endowment claim firms as "wolves of the financial selling industry."

Flynn has lashed out repeatedly at big banks and other institutions for their shoddy treatment of customers. Now a tiny firm with just six employees is biting back.

"A big part of my political life has been exposing rip-offs," he said. "I've been doing it all my life. Now my position is serious. Taking them on will interfere with my life. It's appalling for a firm to try to silence me."

He says he first heard of Endowment Justice in July 2004 when director Marianne Fitzjohn contacted him offering to help constituents with endowment-related complaints. The firm operates a no-win, no-fee policy, but takes 20 per cent of any compensation.

Flynn reckons people should shun such services because they can complain free through the Ombudsman. "We've got to tell the public that these companies could end up making them worse off," he said.

But Endowment Justice is equally incensed. Fitzjohn would not comment on the case, but fellow director Graeme Webber, a solicitor, said: "We expected to be treated fairly, but what we got was highly defamatory, highly inflammatory and personally distressing.

"We were looking for an early apology, but it was not forthcoming, which is why we have had to resort to legal action."

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