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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Lisa O'Carroll Ireland correspondent and agencies

MP launches legal action against Andrew Tate over social media posts

Sorcha Eastwood, the Alliance party MP.
Sorcha Eastwood, an Alliance party MP, had told MPs on Friday that she was a ‘survivor of abuse’ and had received rape threats. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

A Northern Ireland MP has launched legal action against the self-styled misogynist Andrew Tate and his brother over social media posts made in the past week.

A lawyer for Sorcha Eastwood, an MP for the Alliance party, said the posts were made on Friday, the day after she had told MPs that she was a “survivor of abuse” and had received rape threats.

Kevin Winters, one of Northern Ireland’s best-known solicitors with a series of cases against the state in relation to deaths during the Troubles, confirmed he was acting for the MP.

“We are instructed to issue legal proceedings against Andrew and Tristan Tate over their continued publication of social media postings on 10 January 2025,” he said.
“We can confirm service of correspondence on today’s date to their solicitors. In light of the sensitivities of the issues engaged, we have no further comment at this stage.”

The posts that prompted Eastwood to launch the legal action were made on social media the day after a debate on violence against women and girls in the House of Commons.

Eastwood’s lawyer did not provide details of the claim but Tate’s timeline shows he commented on Friday on posts she had made in October about male role models. During the Commons debate she revealed that a member of the public had “came up and said they wanted to rape” her during a school visit she was leading at Stormont.

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