The Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers to appeal in a case in which it was ordered to pay £65,000 in libel damages to a management consultant it alleged won a contract with the Metropolitan Police through cronyism.

And the paper (editor Paul Dacre pictured above) has said that the whole newspaper industry should be concerned abou the “huge sums” the case has cost the publisher, because of the no win, no fee system which inflates costs for claimant lawyers.

A three Justice panel – Lord Mance, Lord Toulson and Lord Hodge – rejected the petition on the grounds that the application did not raise a point of law of general public importance.