The Telegraph has dropped Kelvin MacKenzie after discovering a column he penned for the Daily Mail is the subject of a £200,000 libel case.
In April 2012 MacKenzie wrote under the headline ‘A whole year of hell, thanks to foreign doctor’, which claimed to describe the “living hell” of a patient under the care of Dr Antonio Serrano.
Serrano has since claimed that MacKenzie’s column smeared his reputation and, in a 13-page claim, says MacKenzie’s article falsely portrayed the doctor as a “shocking example” of foreign doctors working in the UK.
MacKenzie’s column claimed that the patient’s local MP, Amber Rudd, had said she was “appalled” at the treatment he suffered. However, the Conservative MP has said she had no view on the issue when contacted on MacKenzie’s behalf.
Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers has told Press Gazette that it is contesting the claim. MacKenzie submitted just one column for the Telegraph before facing the axe.
(Sources: MediaGuardian, Press Gazette)
