Speaker's wife Sally Bercow, who is being sued by Tory peer Lord McAlpine over an allegedly libellous tweet she posted, was not "some kitchen table blogger", the High Court has heard.
The former Conservative party treasurer is seeking damages over a posting on Twitter which he claims named him as a paedophile who was guilty of sexually abusing boys living in care.
Mrs Bercow, a former Celebrity Big Brother contestant, has always denied that her November 4 tweet, "Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *Innocent face*", was defamatory.
It followed a Newsnight report that wrongly implicated Lord McAlpine in child sex abuse allegations.
Lord McAlpine's QC, Sir Edward Garnier, told Mr Justice Tugendhat that Mrs Bercow had 60,000 followers on the social media site so her readership was bigger than some local newspapers.
"We are not talking about some kitchen table blogger addressing perhaps herself and one other person," he said. "We are talking about a pretty widespread readership."
Lord McAlpine was wrongly implicated in child sex abuse allegations Representing Mrs Bercow, William McCormick QC, said she had promptly tweeted her apologies, provided letters apologising for the distress caused and made clear that the underlying allegations were untrue, as well as an offer to settle the case which had not been withdrawn.
The last thing the litigation needed was a preliminary issue which would cause delay, he said, adding that what was required was a swift timetable to a single final hearing at the end of July.
Sir Edward told the court that in the context of the Newsnight broadcast - and given the media storm and frenzy going on at that time - it was Lord McAlpine's case that the tweet identified him as the subject of the allegations.
One would have to have been "a moron in a hurry" or an "anchorite in a sealed cave" not to have known the circumstances surrounding the tweet, he said.
Neither Lord McAlpine nor Mrs Bercow were in court for the peer's contested application for the trial to be split in two - a hearing to decide the meaning of the tweet and, if that goes in his favour, a second hearing on the appropriate level of damages.
Granting the application, the judge directed that there should be a preliminary hearing on what was the actual meaning of the words complained of - both a natural and ordinary meaning, and an innuendo meaning.
He said he would give his reasons at a later date.
Lord McAlpine was mistakenly implicated by Newsnight's November 2 broadcast about a paedophile ring that targeted children at a care home in Wrexham.
His name was then widely mentioned on the internet, including social networking site Twitter, by users including Mrs Bercow, wife of John Bewcow.
In February, Lord McAlpine, who has already received six-figure payouts from the BBC and ITV, announced he was dropping defamation claims against Twitter users with fewer than 500 followers and instead asked for a charitable donation to BBC Children In Need.
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