"Michael's career as a government minister made him a target of the tabloids. The Daily Mail ran a series of articles claiming that during a hospital stay Michael had received special treatment. But Michael accepted only the care available to other NHS patients. "I didn't like taking libel actions because I'm a journalist," he noted. Indeed, he had had to defend himself in libel actions that resulted from his articles. But when the tabloid continued to publish false stories and refused to retract them, Michael sued, forcing the paper to pay him PS6000 and issue an apology. "They went to every kind of length to prove that I was wrong ... They couldn't get the nurses to say anything ... They're swines [the tabloids], you know."