Peter C. Newman has been slapped with another lawsuit in just over a week. This time its former prime minister Brian Mulroney who wants retribution.

Mulroney is accusing Newman of a breach of confidence over a series of tapes that the writer used as transcripts for a new book on the former leader, The National Post reported in its Thursday paper.

Mulroney says his one-time friend and former confidante betrayed their friendship by not handing over the tapes to him, or using them for a scholarly biography.

He wants an Ontario court to order Newman to hand over the tapes to the National Archives of Canada, and to donate all the money he has made in publishing the book.

The Secret Mulroney Tapes: Unguarded Confessions of a Prime Minister details hours of interviews with Mulroney, his family and friends and quotes Mulroney as saying he was the best prime minister since Sir John A. Macdonald. The book also quotes him lashing out at friend and foe alike.

Just last week, Newman was served with papers detailing a lawsuit filed by Conrad Black, another old friend of Newman's. That lawsuit came as the author attended a party celebration 100 years of Maclean's magazine.

The lawsuit is seeking more than $2 million in damages, and accuses the journalist and author of libelling Black.

According to the statement of claim, Black alleges that Newman "falsely and maliciously" accused him of breaking criminal laws, including mail and wire fraud and money laundering.

The comments are contained in Newman's 2004 autobiography, There be Dragons: Telling Tales of People, Passion and Power.

In the chapter on Black, called Black Magic: How Conrad Black became a Weapon of Mass Self-Destruction, Newman mused about Lord Black's "downfall."

Black alleges in the lawsuit he has suffered damages as a result of Newman's defamatory comments.