On 6 January 1987, the journalist Hugo Young published a quote attributed to Tebbit in "The Guardian" newspaper. Tebbit's chief of staff, Michael Dobbs, responded by writing a letter to the newspaper citing Young's dislike of Tebbit, adding "Perhaps this explains the invention of the quotation he Young attributed to Mr Tebbit". The quote was "No-one with a conscience votes Conservative". Before this letter was published, however, the words "the invention of" had been removed. Despite publishing this letter "The Guardian" subsequently repeated the quote, and Young again attributed it to him in a letter to "The Spectator". Tebbit feared that if no action was taken against "The Guardian" the Labour Party would use this quote against the Conservatives in the forthcoming general election. With Thatcher's consent Tebbit threatened the newspaper with legal action if they did not retract the quotation and apologise to Tebbit. The case continued until 1988 when "The Guardian" apologised, published a retraction and paid £14,000 in libel damages in an out-of-court settlement.