Hats off to Tom Crone, legal manager of News Group Newspapers. Crone is widely regarded as one of the best media lawyers in the business – indeed, some would go further and say that he’s quite simply the best newspaper lawyer in Britain. He has an unhurried and yet incisive style, but also just the right bearing of authority without which a lawyer’s views, propounded in the heady atmosphere of an editorial conference, would be laughed out of the room.
Crone’s unique blend of skills no doubt played a significant role in the News of the World’s victory in the John Terry affair (excuse pun). The facts are so well known now that they need not be rehearsed here, save to say that the overturning of the (super)injunction preventing details of Terry’s liaison with French swimwear model – and new member of the Max Clifford stable – Vanessa Perroncel might just make for a remarkable sea change in British attitudes to freedom of expression.
Mr Justice Tugendhat, rather than Mr Justice Eady (the bete noire of many an editor, not least Paul Dacre), overturned an order obtained by Terry’s lawyers at a private hearing on January 22. The judge felt that the core complaint was the protection of the England captain’s business reputation, rather than concern for his private life, as in the evidence there was no mention of any personal distress.”This claim is essentially a business matter for [Terry],” said Tugendhat.
For Crone, the ruling was “a long overdue breath of fresh air and common sense… Over recent years, there has been more prior restraint on freedom of speech in Britain than in any other democratic country in the world.” He added that “Gagging orders like the one sought by John Terry have been granted to numerous other Premier League footballers and assorted celebrities. Hopefully today’s victory by the News of the World will lead to a fundamental reassessment of our draconian privacy laws.”
As Terry’s wife, the long-suffering Toni, announces that divorce is on the cards and the England manager, Fabio Capello, considers whether Terry is still fit for the captaincy of the national team, we should congratulate Crone, whose perspicacity, sagaciousness and unflustered determination will have played a significant part in this blow for freedom of expression.
There’s just one thing, though, that we cannot but mull over: each case is decided on its own facts and in this one, how telling was Tugenhat’s conclusion that Terry’s injunctive urge was motivated primarily by business interests? In other words, if he’d adduced more or better evidence of sensitivity and concern for his family, might he have prevailed?
