It is the moment that senior executives at the Mail have been dreading: on Friday Mr Justice Nicklin ruled that the case brought against their publisher Associated Newspapers by Prince Harry, Elton John, Doreen Lawrence and others can continue.
The Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, which had so assiduously avoided being drawn into the scandal around newspaper practices faced by its rivals, will now be scrutinised in the high court and likely face weeks of difficult headlines, regardless of the outcome of the trial.
