Talk:Nicholas Lyell

Biography: Peerage and Baronetage / Politics and Government

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Vexatious litigant[edit]

On 9 December 2008 193.62.66.251 (talk · contribs) added a claim that Nicholas Lyell had been found to be a vexatious litigant and quoted http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/vexatious_litigant/index.htm as the source. Two days later 212.135.238.118 (talk · contribs) removed the claim with the following edit summary:

removed vexatious litigant bit, as this refers to a different person of the same name: the backstory to it is interesting but would need fully documenting[1]

Today the claim was restored to the article by 82.16.107.235 (talk · contribs) without any further clarification or source material.

The source page only lists "HAYWARD, Peter Rubery (aka Sir Nicholas Walter LYELL formerly P R Hayward) - 17 February 1994" and nothing more. There is nothing in the source to prove whether or not it is the same person (or just someone trying to impersonate the incumbent Attorney General for England and Wales). However I would find it quite amazing if the Attorney General was banned from taking civil proceedings to court in 1994 and yet still held his office as the chief legal advisor to the crown for a further three years. As it stands the claim violates both the biographies of living persons and Verifiability policies and should not be included in the article again without more substantial source material. Road Wizard (talk) 02:12, 5 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

With the increase in the number of attempts to restore this material today I have conducted a little research. According to both the BBC and a Parliamentary research paper a man named Peter Rubery Hayward changed his name to "Sir Nicholas Lyell" and attempted to stand against the Attorney General in the 1997 general election. The real Sir Nicholas secured an injunction against Hayward to prevent him from standing. It seems quite clear that the fake "Sir Nicholas" was the one found to be a vexatious litigant, which makes further attempts to restore the claim to the article a clear case of libel against the real Sir Nicholas. Road Wizard (talk) 20:20, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Road Wizard, those are exactly the articles I found. I would have linked them myself, but I didn't have time (then I forgot the article name!). It might be worth including a paragraph about the fake "Sir Nicholas", I'm sure the BBC and Hansard make it notable. 212.135.238.118 (talk) 15:07, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Scott Inquiry[edit]

I am surprised there is no mention of his role in the Arms to Iraq scandal involving Matrix Churchill and the subsequent Scott Inquiry. At the time he was a major player. As a teenager at the time I remember him coming in for a lot of stick for his role. Can anyone add in a section with some good sources?Robruss24 (talk) 11:59, 27 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]