Lord Raminder Singh Ranger v Poonam Joshi

Facts

The claimant, Lord Ranger, is a Conservative member of the House of Lords. The defendant, Ms Joshi, is a journalist and campaigner for women's rights. After a bitter dispute on social media, the defendant complained to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards and to Conservative Party headquarters in November 2022. On 18 November 2022 the claimant sued her for libel and harassment. The Commissioner found that the claimant's conduct amounted to bullying and harassment, but also found fault on both sides. The parties then mediated and settled on 31 May 2023. A Tomlin Order dated 3 July 2023 stayed the claim on the settlement terms. Those terms included a mutual undertaking that neither party would "denigrate" the other and/or pursue a course of conduct amounting to harassment of the other (the NDU). Between June 2023 and February 2026 the defendant made nine posts on Facebook and X. They linked to press reports of the Commissioner's findings, of the annulment of the claimant's CBE, and of his £50,000 dinner with Kemi Badenoch, with captions describing his bullying and harassment of her. The claimant applied to lift the stay and enforce the NDU by injunction. He also complained of the defendant's words quoted in a Guardian article. The defendant filed no evidence. She argued that "denigrate" requires unfairness, unreasonableness or inaccuracy, and relied on a clause in the settlement providing for mediation and then arbitration.