Ashley Hurst ordered to pay £310,000 over email sent while acting for ex-chancellor

A lawyer acting for Nadhim Zahawi during investigations into the former chancellor’s tax affairs has been ordered to pay £310,000 after a campaigner complained of an attempt to silence him over the controversy.

Ashley Hurst, from the legal firm Osborne Clarke, was alleged to have improperly tried to restrict Dan Neidle, campaigner and founder of the thinktank Tax Policy Associates, from discussing an email from Hurst, in which he offered Neidle an “opportunity” to retract an allegation against Zahawi and implicitly threatened a defamation claim. Hurst warned that Neidle was “not entitled” to publish or refer to the communication, except to seek legal advice.