Did Lord Monckton fabricate a claim on his Wikipedia page?

Correspondence with George Monbiot, posted 3rd October 2007

Viscount Monckton of Brenchley is a prominent climate change denier and a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher. This is not the first claim of his whose veracity has been publicly challenged, as you can see here:

http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2007/09/just_in_case_you_feel_inclined.php

And here:

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007/09/moncktons_fantasy_world.php

Email from George Monbiot to Lord Monckton, 30th August 2007.

Dear Lord Monckton,

I hope this finds you well. I am puzzled to hear that someone who identifies himself as you has been claiming on Wikipedia that the Guardian has paid you £50,000 in damages as a result of an article I wrote. Could you please let me know whether or not it was you who made this claim, and if so what the meaning of it is.

Yours Sincerely, George Monbiot

Email from Lord Monckton to George Monbiot, 30th August 2007

I’ve been trying to get Wikipedia to take down the biog. page about me. People on both sides of the debate have used it as a playground, much to my detriment. I don’t warrant the accuracy of anything on that page unless it’s independently verified elsewhere. – M of B

Email from George Monbiot to Lord Monckton, 31st August 2007.

Dear Lord Monckton,

many thanks for your reply. Unfortunately you have not answered my question. Was it you who made the claim that the Guardian has paid you £50,000 in damages as a result of an article I wrote?

Thank you,

Yours Sincerely,

George Monbiot

Email from Lord Monckton to George Monbiot, 31st August 2007

No. And I am puzzled – the Wikipedia page shows no reference to this. – M of B

Email from George Monbiot to Lord Monckton, 31st August 2007

Dear Lord Monckton,

thank you for answering me. There is no puzzle, in that the page has now been edited to remove this misinformation. You say you did not make the claim on Wikipedia that the Guardian has paid you £50,000 in damages as a result of an article I wrote. Could you then explain how this claim originated from a message sent from your email address? Was someone else using your email?

Yours Sincerely, George Monbiot

Email from Lord Monckton to George Monbiot, 31st August 2007

We’re on a system with several tens of thousands of people on it. I’m doing my best to get the whole page taken down so that there’s no more nonsense. – M of B

Email from George Monbiot to Lord Monckton, 31st August 2007

Thanks for letting me know, but I’m still confused. What system are you referring to? Who else shares your email address?

Thank you, George Monbiot

Email from George Monbiot to Lord Monckton, 3rd September 2007

Dear Lord Monckton,

I am still puzzled as to how the claim I have mentioned was transmitted to Wikipedia from your email address. Please help me to clear up this confusion. Might you have made the claim in error?

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely, George Monbiot

Email from George Monbiot to Lord Monckton, 26th September 2007

Dear Lord Monckton,

I am told that you have asked the Guardian to instruct me to desist from asking you further questions, on the grounds of your grave ill-health. While I am sorry to hear how ill you are, I do not understand why your health permits you to send me evasive answers to my question, but not to send me a straight answer. Nor do I understand why, if you are unable to send me a simple explanation of how the claim in question was transmitted from your email address to the Wikipedia page, you are able to threaten, again, to sue the Guardian for libel and to demand that it publish a long article, which you propose to write.

I am not asking much of you in terms of effort: I am sure that an explanation of one or two sentences would clear the matter up. But unless you are able to provide one, I feel I have no choice but to conclude that you fabricated a claim on your Wikipedia page. I thought I should give you one last chance to produce a convincing refutation of this hypothesis.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

George Monbiot

No further reply from Lord Monckton has been received.