Rothschild loses bid to overturn Mail's libel victory By Richard Pendlebury Nat Rothschild has failed in his final attempt to overturn the Daily Mail's libel victory against him Billionaire financier Nat Rothschild has failed in his final attempt to overturn the Daily Mail's libel victory against him. The Supreme Court, the highest in the land, has refused Mr Rothschild permission to appeal his defeat at the Court of Appeal in March. Mr Rothschild has now exhausted the legal process and will have to pay costs approaching £1.5million. Three law lords ruled that Mr Rothschild's application "does not raise an arguable point of law of general public importance which ought to be considered by the Supreme Court at this time bearing in mind that the case has already been the subject of judicial decision and reviewed on appeal." The legal action dates back to 2010 when the Mail published a story concerning a trip to Moscow by Mr Rothschild's close friend Lord Mandelson. The Mail said that in January 2005, while EU trade commissioner, Mandelson had been flown from Switzerland to the Russian capital to be present at a dinner to mark the closure of a £500million business deal. Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska was selling aluminium plants to the American firm Alcoa. Rothschild was also Deripaska's friend and business adviser. It was on Rothschild's plane that Mandelson had been flown. The article suggested that the trip exposed the then trade commissioner to questions of possible conflict of interest, given that he had a role in setting tariffs on aluminium imports into the EU. Though the report mainly concerned Mandelson and Deripaska, neither of them complained. Instead it was Rothschild who sued for libel, claiming the article was wrong and portrayed him as having taken advantage of his friend for his own business benefit. He sought "heavy damages." His version of events provided the sensational backdrop for the subsequent libel trial which took place in 2012. Mr Rothschild denied that Mandelson was flown to Moscow to attend the dinner. The commissioner only appeared briefly to say hello to Deripaska (a matter accepted by the Daily Mail at trial). But he revealed that during the Russian trip the commissioner had been flown on Deripaska's jet from Moscow to Siberia where he was entertained further and visited a smelter owned by the oligarch. This was not disclosed to the EU. In originally finding against Rothschild, Justice Tugendhat said that the tycoon had "not been entirely candid" and given "quite unrealistic answers" in his evidence. In handing down his judgment at the Court of Appeal in March, Lord Justice Laws said that while the case had been brought by Rothschild alone, "the narrative of the case must inevitably throw light on the conduct and character of participants in the relevant events." He added: "The trip was a business trip. The hospitality enjoyed during the trip by Lord Mandelson at the hands of Mr Deripaska (whom he did not know at all well) was to say the least extremely lavish. The law lord added: "It is clear from his second witness statement and his evidence that the appellant [Rothschild] knew, when he issued the invitation to Lord Mandelson, that Mr Deripaska would actually be the host and the trip's main purpose was the pursuit of a business venture. But he did not tell Lord Mandelson.