Politician will make defamation payout over Twitter post

Colin Elsbury has agreed to pay political rival Eddie Talbot damages and costs over a post on Twitter which claimed that Talbot had had to be ejected from an election count.

Plaid Cymru candidate Elsbury wrote on his Twitter page on the day of a council election in 2009: "It's not in our nature to deride our opponents however Eddie Talbot had to be removed by the Police from a polling station".

A man had been removed from a polling station but it had not been Talbot, who lost the six-way fight for a council seat to Elsbury by 160 votes. Elsbury posted a message eight days later saying: " Oops, it’s a case of mistaken identity", according to the Western Mail.

The High Court approved a settlement in which Elsbury would pay Talbot a reported £3,000 in damages plus costs, which could run to tens of thousands of pounds. The settlement also involved Elsbury posting an apology on his Twitter page.

Elsbury sandwiched his apology between lines of Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If', which urges silent stoicism in the face of adversity.

"On [election] day, I posted a statement on my Twitter page and election blog that Councillor Talbot had to be removed from a Polling Station by the Police," said Elsbury's Twitter message. "I accept that statement was completely untrue and defamatory of Councillor Talbot and I hereby unreservedly apologise to him for any distress, hurt, upset, embarrassment and damage to his reputation I may have caused him because of that statement. I have agreed to pay Councillor Talbot damages and his legal costs as a result."

"This case will no doubt act as a warning to people, including politicians, to be extremely careful when using Twitter and other social media such as blogs," Elsbury told the Western Mail.