Hands off our Antonia Fraser exclusive, Mail tells rivals

Irritation at the Daily Mail, which has landed the serialisation rights to Lady Antonia Fraser's forthcoming book Must You Go? about life with her late husband Harold Pinter. The paper's managing editor Charles Garside has despatched a stiffly-worded warning to rival titles advising them to resist the temptation to plunder the book in search of an easy story. "We understand that the publisher of the book, Orion, has circulated review copies subject to a strict publication embargo. It has been brought to our attention that a newspaper might be planning to breach that embargo. The purpose of this letter is to place you on notice of the Daily Mail's exclusive rights in Ms Fraser's book" Garside wrote. The Sunday Times has already run an interview with Lady Antonia that will appear in Tatler, while Valerie Grove wrote a long piece for the Times on Saturday that quoted liberally from Lady Antonia's own diaries, which might explain the Mail man's fury. "Should you breach the embargo, or do anything else that interferes with our rights, we will take such steps as we consider necessary to protect our position" he wrote. "We will also bring a claim for damages." And a Happy New Year to you too, Charles.