6 DECEMBER 1997, Page 35

Hamilton and the Guardian Sir: In his fair-minded assessment of

the case against Neil Hamilton, Stephen Glover writes (Media studies, 29 Novem- ber) that the reason why Neil Hamilton pulled out of his libel action against the Guardian is not totally clear. It is, in fact, quite clear. I gave evidence on the point to Sir Gordon Downey and he accepted it.

The reason had nothing to do with an inconsistency between his evidence and Ian Greer's. It was because a last-minute exam- ination of the financial records of Ian Greer Associates showed that Greer had, on an earlier occasion, misled the Select Committee on Members' Interests.

Greer asserted that this was inadvertent, but his lawyers advised that the disclosure would so damage his credibility as to reduce his prospects of success against the Guardian to zero. Because the Guardian had earlier successfully sought a court order joining Hamilton's and Greer's case together, the damage to Greer was bound to affect Hamilton. The resulting conflict of interest obliged the lawyers, who acted for them jointly, to resign.

Neither the existence of Fayed's employee witnesses nor Sir Robin Butler's memoran- dum of Hamilton's conversation with Michael Heseltine had at that stage been revealed. When they were, my advice remained unaltered that he should contin- ue with his action, as he had a good prospect of winning and the Guardian's defence would founder under cross- examination. Hamilton was unable to do so because he could not afford to brief a new legal team, duplicating fees already incurred to the tune of £100,000.

Mr Glover asked, secondly, if anyone knows the true reasons for the many changes in Fayed's allegations against Hamilton. The DTI Inspectors' report offers a clue: 'One of the difficulties con- fronting anyone seeking to test the truth of the Fayeds' account of the generation of their wealth is that the story changes as dif- ferent parts of it are demolished or discred- ited.'

Rupert Grey

Solicitor to Neil Hamilton, Crockers Oswald Hickson, 10 Gough Square, London EC4