UK
Douglas Murray wins ‘major’ libel claim against The Observer
An article published by the paper accused Murray of supporting attacks against immigrants
March 11, 2025 17:43
An article published by the paper accused Murray of supporting attacks against immigrants
March 11, 2025 17:43Author and journalist Douglas Murray has been awarded “substantial damages” in a libel claim against The Guardian Media Group.
An article, written by author Kenan Malik and published in The Observer newspaper last year, accused the conservative commentator of “supporting violent racist attacks” against migrants during the nationwide anti-immigrant protests.
Unrest erupted across 27 different cities in the UK following the brutal murder in July of three young girls carried out by Axel Rudakubana, and the injuring of 10 others during a dance party in Southport.
Malik, in his August article entitled “The roots of this unrest lie in the warping of genuine working-class grievances”, alluded to an interview between Murray and the ex-deputy prime minister of Australia John Anderson in which they discussed Islam and immigration.
During the conversation, Murray claimed, “the British soul is awakening and stirring with rage at what these people are doing”.
Malik claimed Murray’s use of “these people” referred to the migrants targeted during the riots and accused him of supporting the attacks. Malik failed to point out that Murray’s remarks came approximately half a year before the anti-immigrant violence broke out.
Guardian News & Media Ltd, the publisher of The Observer, was forced to apologise after Murray pursued legal action and pay damages.
Announcing the news on X on Tuesday, Murray said he won a “major” libel claim against the paper and criticised its “lazy journalism”.
“Last year the paper made very serious and false accusations against me, based on unchecked claims on social media,” he said, saying the paper and Malik “falsely accused me of supporting violent attacks against migrants. This was not true and did not make it to the online edition.
“Nevertheless such baseless accusations have to be stopped before other careless ‘journalists’ take fake news from the internet and repeat such damaging allegations.”