Sir Fred Goodwin exposed as sexual affair is revealed

The former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland had sought to gag newspaper reports of an affair by taking out a so-called super-injunction at the High Court.

But yesterday, in a dramatic turnaround, Mr Justice Tugendhat said the media could name Sir Fred after the banker's identity was revealed in the House of Lords earlier in the day by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Stoneham.

The judge said reporters could reveal that Sir Fred, 52, took legal action earlier this year after discovering that a newspaper was planning to publish a story about the "relationship".

Sir Fred alleged that the tabloid newspaper was threatening his right to privacy and in March a judge granted a temporary injunction preventing publication of his identity.

Mr Justice Tugendhat told a hearing in London that some parts of the injunction remained in place, banning publication of details of the relationship, plus the identity of the woman said to be involved.

The growing use of super- injunctions to prevent publication of details about the private lives of prominent public figures, including footballers, film stars and television personalities, has been hugely controversial.

But Sir Fred's decision to seek a gagging order has attracted particular interest from political figures due to the Government's controversial bail-out of RBS and the huge pension he retained despite his failed stewardship.

• Parliamentary privilege explained

While the media has been prevented from revealing details of Sir Fred's alleged affair, members of the Houses of Parliament have used parliamentary privilege to raise the issue in public.

Parliamentary privilege allows MPs and peers to make statements from the floor of both Houses with the full protection of the law.

The lifting of the injunction concerning the alleged affair was described as a victory for free speech by campaigners who are concerned about the rise of the super injunction to cover the details of the lives of celebrities, sports stars and other prominent individuals.

The drama began in the House of Lords yesterday when Sir Fred was named by Lib Dem peer Lord Stoneham of Droxford, who said there was a public interest in the details being made public.

Lord Stoneham said: "Every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

"So how can it be right for a super-injunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague?

"If true, it would be a serious breach of corporate governance and not even the Financial Services Authority would be allowed to know about it."

Justice minister Lord McNally said in response: "I do not think it is proper for me, from this dispatch box, to comment on individual cases, some of which are before the courts."

Within hours of the exchanges details of the affair, including the name of the woman, were being published on social media networks such as Twitter.

Events then moved to the High Court where a newspaper sought to discharge an order made in the High Court in March.

But Mr Justice Tugendhat said that before the application was made, Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Sir Fred, "informed the court that he did not wish to persuade the court to continue the anonymity" he had been granted.He added: "The main point is that this is an injunction relating to a sexual relationship.

"The existing order of Mrs Justice Sharp prohibits the naming of the other person to the relationship and prohibits the publication of any details. That remains in force."

Recently the BBC journalist Andrew Marr abandoned a super-injunction he had taken out to hide an affair, while the former Big Brother contestant Imogen Thomas failed in her bid to have a super-injunction about an affair she allegedly had with a Premiership footballer lifted.

However, the existence of super-injunctions and claims made on social media websites about celebrities that have allegedly taken one has seen false claims being made.

This included false allegations that the Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson had taken one out to hide an affair with Jemima Khan.

Labour MP Ian Murray, who represents the Edinburgh constituency Sir Fred lives in, said that the case showed there needed to be a change in the law.

He said: "Super-injunctions seem to give the rich and powerful a tool that other people don't have to hide secrets. Of course privacy is important but if it is true that Fred Goodwin was having an affair with a senior colleague, it's hardly a matter of national security and it may have had an impact on his performance at the bank which collapsed.

"The use of super-injunctions has mushroomed and they are now clearly being used for things they were never intended for."

The developments came ahead of a publication of a report into super-injunctions today by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury.

However, yesterday morning culture secretary Jeremy Hunt and justice secretary Kenneth Clarke met and reportedly agreed, ahead of the report's publication, that there should be no new privacy law.

Instead they are understood to favour improvements to current laws, which direct judges to err towards freedom of the press.

Despite these signals, Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokesman said the Government would await publication of the report on injunctions by Lord Neuberger before deciding how to proceed.

"This whole issue is something we need to think about," said the spokesman. "We are going to look at this report tomorrow and consider it very carefully. We have always said we would start by considering that report carefully."

Lord Neuberger, the senior civil judge in England and Wales, has chaired a year-long inquiry by a committee of judges and lawyers into the operation of super-injunctions.

Sir Fred had been previously named as one of the prominent figures who had taken one out by Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, who also used parliamentary privilege in March to disclose the existence of Sir Fred's super-injunction. He had also complained that Sir Fred could not be identified as a banker under the terms of the injunction.

Yesterday he said: "The decision to lift the anonymity of Fred Goodwin today is a small victory for free speech. It is, however, a victory. I think the judiciary recognise which way the wind is blowing.

"However, what they really need to do is to change tack."