TORY TYCOON TO SUE OVER DRUG SLURS

MICHAEL ASHCROFT, The Embattled Tory Treasurer, Last Night Fought Back
Against A Growing Tide Of Allegations About His Business Dealings In
Central America By Launching A Libel Action To Clear His Name.

His decision to sue came after a Labour MP used House of Commons privilege
to allege that his name was linked to an investigation into drug
trafficking by United States authorities. For the past two weeks, Mr
Ashcroft, a billionaire who has given pounds 3 million to the Conservative
Party, has faced a daily barrage of damaging accusations about his
interests in Belize.

William Hague gave his full backing to Mr Ashcroft's decision to sue The
Times, which has led the campaign. Mr Ashcroft is a tax exile, splitting
his time between homes in Westminster, Belize and Boca Raton in Florida.
The Tory leader told the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs: "I am not
going to allow people to be driven from positions in the party by smear and
innuendo."

A Conservative spokesman said there was "no suggestion" that Mr Ashcroft
would use the libel action as way of quitting as treasurer. Mr Hague also
challenged Peter Bradley, Labour MP for The Wrekin, who made the
allegations against Mr Ashcroft in the Commons yesterday, to repeat them
without the protection of parliamentary privilege.

Mr Hague said: "We will see now whether Labour MPs have the courage to say
outside the House what they have had the cowardice to say inside." Mr
Bradley had read a list allegedly connecting Mr Ashcroft to investigations
that spread from America to Canada and Europe.

The decision to sue The Times, its editor, Peter Stothard, and two of the
paper's journalists, was seen at Westminster as a recognition that the
accusations were proving an increasing embarrassment to the Tories. In an
open letter to Mr Stothard last night, Mr Ashcroft declared: "Enough is
enough" and insisted he had nothing to hide.

He claimed that the newspaper's coverage of his business activities in
Belize was "perhaps the most one-sided, partial and coloured account of
anyone's affairs ever produced by a newspaper in a free country".

Mr Ashcroft said that over the years he had developed a thick skin and
until now he had ignored The Times's allegations. "But in the last 24 hours
you have gone too far. As you well know, I established Crimestoppers and I
have been chairman of Action on Addiction. I do not condone crime, and in
particular I do not condone drug trafficking."

Mr Ashcroft also accused the newspaper of embarking on a co-ordinated
campaign - "this conspiracy" - to smear him in the run-up to today's
by-election in Eddisbury. Mr Stothard promised that The Times would mount a
"vigorous defence" against the writ and denied there had been a
"conspiracy". He said the paper was conducting "wholly legitimate
investigations".

The libel action will centre on a Times report yesterday claiming that Mr
Ashcroft's his name would not have been on the files of the Drug
Enforcement Administration if it were not of "practical value" to its
investigations. It alleged that Mr Ashcroft was sufficiently important to
be given his own index number on the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
information system.

The case promises to be the most high profile political libel action since
the disgraced former Treasury minister, Jonathan Aitken, embarked on his
unsuccessful action in 1995 against what he described as "cancer of bent
and twisted journalism".

It pits Mr Ashcroft against the powerful Murdoch media empire. He has
enlisted the services of George Carman, QC, who acted for the Guardian in
the Aitken case. Tory officials last night denied that Mr Hague had put
pressure on Mr Ashcroft to begin a libel action.

But there will be relief within Tory circles that Mr Ashcroft has decided
to take action to clear his name. Although Mr Hague has insisted he is
standing by his treasurer, there has been growing alarm that the
allegations against Mr Ashcroft have revived the "sleaze" controversy that
did so much damage to the Tories in the last Parliament.

But Harvey Thomas, a former director of communications for the Tories, said
the next step, "has to be that Michael Ashcroft resigns, not because we
know he has done something wrong, but because it is in the best interests
of the party".

Tory hopes that the campaign against Mr Ashcroft would run out of steam
were dashed yesterday when Mr Bradley challenged Mr Hague to refer Mr
Ashcroft to his party's integrity and ethics committee.

A Conservative party spokesman said: "The US State Department has confirmed
there is no information linking Michael Ashcroft and money-laundering." He
said the Drug Enforcement Administration had never made an attempt to
contact Mr Ashcroft.