Lord McAlpine drops defamation Twitter claims

TORY peer Lord McAlpine has dropped defamation claims against some Twitter users who wrongly named him as a paedophile.

The House of Lords member has written to account holders with less than 500 users informing them that he will not be taking action but has instead asked that they donate £25 to BBC’s Children In Need charity.

Lord McAlpine said he was dropping the action as he wanted to draw the “unfortunate episode” to a close.

The Tory peer has received a payout from the BBC after a Newsnight investigation led to the former Conservative Party treasurer being wrongly accused of child abuse.

Lord McAlpine also received damages from ITV after This Morning presenter Philip Schofield showed a piece of paper to Prime Minister David Cameron on camera in which the Tory peer’s name could be seen.