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The Reunion: The McLibel Trial

The McLibel Trial

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Kirsty Wark and guests recall the 1990s decade-long libel case involving McDonald’s.

Kirsty Wark and guests recall the 1990s decade-long libel case between restaurant chain McDonald’s and two Greenpeace campaigners.

It was in 1994 that McDonald’s began a libel case against a postman and gardener from London. It took a decade for the case to be resolved, making it the longest-running libel case in English legal history.

In the late 1980s, Helen Steel and Dave Morris were active campaigners for a group called London Greenpeace and had distributed a leaflet that questioned the fast-food giants’ claims that their burgers were both healthy and good for the environment.

McDonald’s took offence and began a case against these, and other claims, made in the leaflet. The pair were unable to get legal aid and so faced the prospect of having to represent themselves in court. Keir Starmer was a young lawyer at the time and was keen to help - offering his advice for free.

The initial ruling in the High Court went in part against Steel and Morris and they were told to pay £40,000 damages. But by 2005 the pair had won their appeal to the European Court for Human Rights - and McDonald’s faced a PR disaster.

Joining Kirsty Wark are the “McLibel Two”, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, along with Timothy Atkinson who was part of McDonald’s legal team, and film maker Franny Armstrong who spent a decade following the case.

Excerpts from "McLibel", courtesy of Spanner Films.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Howard Shannon
Series Producer: David Prest
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