He once claimed to bear more grudges than lonely high court judges. Now Morrissey wants his date in the high court to rebut years of allegations that he is a racist and a hypocrite.

Lawyers for the former Smiths frontman told the high court on Monday that the singer "continues to suffer" reputational damage from a controversial interview he gave to NME magazine four years ago in which he complained about an "immigration explosion" leading to a loss of British identity.

In a written submission, Morrissey said his comments received "a barrage of press" at the time, and added: "Question marks over my being a racist have never since receded".

Morrissey is attempting to sue NME's former editor Conor McNicholas and its publisher, IPC Media, for libel over the interview. Although he was not in court for the hearing, Morrissey could be cross-examined before a jury if a trial goes ahead. Despite being dogged by fresh accusations in recent years, Morrissey has consistently denied being a racist.

The singer's skeleton argument described the row as "a classic case where vindication is the only remedy".

With a reference to the bitter standoff that spans almost two decades – in 1992 NME accused him of "flirting with disaster" and racist imagery after he wrapped a union flag around himself while on stage in Finsbury Park, north London – lawyers acting for Morrissey told the court that "the fight against NME is a matter of public record" and that "the battle lines for the trial have been firmly drawn".

David Sherborne, acting for the singer, claimed that the "extremely serious" and "highly defamatory" allegations were designed purely to raise publicity for the magazine.

However, lawyers for McNicholas and the NME told the court the claim should be struck out. Catrin Evans, acting for the magazine, claimed that financial difficulties, a legal dispute in the US and an acrimonious fallout with his then manager had "distracted" Morrissey from pursuing his claim against NME.

Morrissey threatened legal action against the magazine in November 2007, days after the interview was published.

According to Evans, the singer dropped the complaint for three years before recently reigniting the row. "The court can infer from this that there has been such a delay that is not a genuine bid for vindication," Evans said. "[The claim] simply didn't figure at the forefront of his mind."

Evans claimed that Morrissey "by his own actions" has provoked "more topical" accusations of racism – including an interview with the Guardian in September 2010 in which he described Chinese people as a "subspecies" – since the NME article was published.

"The fact that [Morrissey] has spent the three years since March 2008 recording albums, touring, promoting his new work and presumably doing well enough commercially to be able now to contemplate funding this libel claim, shows that his reputation has been unaffected. His fans apparently still love him," Evans told the court. She pointed out that the offending interview had never been published online and continues to exist "only in Morrissey fans' bedrooms".

Britain's most senior libel judge, Mr Justice Tugendhat, is expected to decide on Tuesday whether the claim should go to trial. Morrissey could testify in court alongside his former manager, Merck Mercuriadis, as well as McNicholas, Krissi Murison-Hodge, formerly the deputy editor, and Tim Jonze, the interviewer and now editor of theguardian.com/music.

If the claim goes to trial, more than 250 emails between the NME and Morrissey's manager, as well as a full transcript of the interview, would be used as evidence.

Sherborne, acting for Morrissey, claimed that the documents "speak for themselves". In one email sent to Morrissey's manager two days before the interview was published, McNicholas is quoted as saying that "no one is accusing Morrissey of racism – that would be mad given what Morrissey says".

According to Morrissey's skeleton argument, Jonze told Morrissey in a follow-up interview that McNicholas "doesn't think you have a problem with other races but it sounds like you wouldn't like someone [non-British] to move in next door to you".

In the interview, Morrissey was quoted as saying that "the gates of England are flooded. The country's been thrown away." Asked by the interviewer whether he would return to live in Britain, Morrissey is quoted: "With the issue of immigration, it's very difficult because, although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears."

Lawyers acting for the magazine argue that a fair trial would be impossible given that it would rely on the accurate recall of editorial decisions made five years ago. The court heard that the published article was amended three times between 18 November and 21 November before it was eventually published on 28 November.

McNicholas, whose seven-year editorship of the NME was characterised largely by the well-publicised row, was in court for the three-hour hearing on Monday. The hearing continues on Tuesday.