George Galloway was evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother house tonight and emerged to some good news, but a torrent of bad.

On the bright side, the Respect MP will discover that the Court of Appeal today upheld his libel win against The Daily Telegraph newspaper, and ruled that he can keep the £150,000 he was awarded in libel damages in December 2004. If Mr Galloway had lost, he would been bankrupted by the newspaper's £2 million legal bill.

On the gloomy side, Mr Galloway will find out for the first time that he may face two renewed inquiries into his involvement in the Iraqi Oil-for-Food scandal, both announced in the last 24 hours.

The Serious Fraud Office says it is reopening its investigation into whether Mr Galloway figured in the corrupt and discredited United Nations scheme to allow Saddam Hussein to sell oil to feed his people.

In a separate move, Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, said that now that the Telegraph's libel appeal was out of the way, he may revive his inquiry into whether the controversial politician broke Commons rules by not declaring benefits received from the Iraqi regime.

Mr Galloway will also find his own face staring out from the front pages of the press, in video stills which appear to show him having a jovial meeting in 1999 with Uday Hussein, the sadistic son of the Iraqi dictator. The Sun says that the previously unseen footage was shot in 1999 during a visit by Galloway to Iraq.

The MP does not yet know, thanks to the news blackout imposed on the Big Brother house, that pictures of himself in a skintight red leotard, or pretending to be a cat to lick cream from Rula Lenska's lap, have already featured heavily in newspaper coverage of the show.

The good news came this morning, when the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, together with Lords Justices Chadwick and Laws, all dismissed the Telegraph’s argument that an April 2003 story that appeared under the headline "Galloway was in Saddam’s pay, say secret Iraqi documents", was covered by qualified privilege.

"The Daily Telegraph did not at any stage seek to justify those defamatory statements as true," ruled Sir Anthony. "It defended the actions only on the basis of privilege and fair comment. The (original) judge rejected both defences.

"He was, in our judgment right to do so. It follows that the appeal on liability must be dismissed. We also dismiss the appeal on damages for the reasons given."

James Price, QC, representing the newspaper, had argued that it was in the public interest to publish documents found by its foreign correspondent David Blair inside the Iraqi foreign ministry after the fall of Baghdad because the story was "of truly global significance".

The judges refused the newspaper permission to appeal to the House of Lords, although it can petition the Lords direct. If they refuse to hear an appeal, the newspaper must pay Mr Galloway what it owes within 14 days.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Charles blazes trail as sun king
• Thalidomiders win payout 50 years on
• Libel gag on talk of 'medical hurricane'