Folletts accept libel damages

Ken and Barbara Follett yesterday accepted undisclosed libel damages over a newspaper column which questioned the sincerity of their fund-raising activities for the Labour Party.

Neither the novelist nor his wife, the founder of Emily's List, which is aimed at getting more women into Parliament, were at the High Court.

Their solicitor, John Rubinstein, told Mr Justice French that Anne Robinson attacked the couple in her column in the Today newspaper in April 1995.

She also questioned Mrs Follett's bona fides in connection with her selection by Labour as its official candidate to contest the Stevenage constituency in the next election.

News (UK) Ltd, the publishers of the paper until its recent closure, its former editor, Richard Stott, and Miss Robinson accepted the attack went beyond the legitimate cut and thrust of political exchange.