Thread by @_johnbye

Andrew Bridgen has been ordered to pay Matt Hancock £44,300 in defence costs, after his libel claim against the former Health Secretary was ruled "defective" earlier this month, and needing amendments before the case could proceed. 🧵

independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/…

While Andrew Bridgen initially tried to claim victory, because the judge didn't throw out his libel claim completely, he's apparently failed to amend his complaint since then.

The latest ruling against him warns that if he doesn't do so soon, the whole case will be dismissed.

Andrew Bridgen raised over £100,000 for his libel claim, via a crowdfunding site owned by his former colleagues at Reclaim. Oddly he's still failed to declare most of this money in the Parliamentary Register of Interests.

He's now begging for more .. to pay Hancock's lawyers. 🤦‍♂️

It's not clear if Bridgen will receive money raised by "his" crowdfunder, as a deleted tweet by Reclaim leader Laurence Fox (who owns the Democracy 3.0 site) ridicules his libel case and describes the MP as "an absolute tw*t". 😳

h/t @HutchPopperson @Sharky_vs_Evil @OctagolGod

Bridgen claims (in an email posted by Fox) that Fox's Bad Law Project is to blame for his "defective" libel claim against Hancock, and that Fox's crowdfunding site is still holding money raised in his name!

And yet Bridgen is still asking supporters to send more money there. 🤷‍♂️

Andrew Bridgen spent Easter begging his supporters to "sacrifice" more of their own money to keep his libel action against Matt Hancock limping along. He again claims he won, despite the judge explicitly ruling that he lost. Hence the order to pay most of Hancock's defence costs.

In the video, Bridgen blames his "previous legal team" (Laurence Fox's aptly named Bad Law Project) for the defective claim and says he's trying to "recover the cost .. from the lawyers responsible". Then asks for more donations via .. Fox's Democracy 3.0 crowdfunding site. 🤦‍♂️