Former Conservative treasurer Peter Cruddas hit out at the party leadership today after he won £180,000 libel damages over a newspaper sting that forced him to resign.
The businessman, 59, criticised David Cameron for endorsing his resignation without hearing both sides of claims that he had offered rich donors a “cash for access” deal. “When the story broke, the behaviour of the Conservative party made the whole thing a lot worse,” he said after his victory at the High Court in London.
“The fact that Mr Cameron said it was quite right that I resigned, he didn’t know my side of the story.”
The Sunday Times was ordered to pay the damages plus costs of £500,000 for alleging he charged people £250,000 to meet Mr Cameron. Mr Cruddas, who grew up in Hackney, said he had been the victim of “malicious lies”.
