Aitken makes £3m deal

Creditors of Jonathan Aitken are expected to agree to discharge him from bankruptcy - receiving only around half of the £2.8 million they are owed, it is claimed today.

The former Cabinet minister, jailed in 1999 for perjury, says the deal will leave him "almost penniless". Creditor The Guardian newspaper, which he sued unsuccessfully for libel in 1997, says Mr Aitken's family will keep property and pension funds worth more than £1million.

Mr Aitken, 59, declared himself bankrupt in 1999 after trying to sue the newspaper and Granada TV over claims that a trip to Paris, in which he discussed a potential arms deal with a Saudi prince, was paid for by the Saudis.

A spokesman for Mr Aitken said the deal would leave him with little more than pension rights.