Dirty Politics, Dirty Times by Michael Ashcroft

Author:Michael Ashcroft [Michael Ashcroft]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849542975
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2011-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

However, Stothard’s public statements on the day that his newspaper carried its retraction did not give me confidence that he was being gracious or that he considered our dispute over. He told Radio 4’s PM programme: ‘I was completely happy with this statement. It was a withdrawal of Mr Ashcroft’s libel action, no correction, no apology, no payment of costs. It was hardly a statement which was imposed on an unwilling editor.’ The truth was that two pragmatic men – Rupert Murdoch and I – had reached a practical decision that avoided the need for continuing costly and time-consuming legal action. I only found out much later that the settlement also effectively ended John Bryant’s career on The Times. For the previous five months, Stothard had resented the fact that his deputy editor had been entirely right when he warned that I would sue over the DEA documents if such information was used recklessly in a story. Although he had needed Bryant on board for the legal action, he now told Murdoch and Les Hinton, News International’s executive chairman, that he considered him to be ‘hostile’ and could no longer work with him. Bryant therefore left the paper shortly after the settlement, another innocent victim of the newspaper’s campaign against me. Bryant is now editor-in-chief of the two Telegraph titles.

News of a settlement was welcomed by the stock market. During the day – 9 December – shares in my public company, Carlisle Holdings, rose from £6.90 to £8.70. This was welcome news for shareholders, myself included. Indeed, it meant the value of my personal holdings increased by £70 million in a matter of hours. Yet I had reservations about the settlement too, primarily that it deprived me of my day – of victory – in the High Court.

The settlement received widespread coverage in national newspapers. However, it was the way that another old detractor of mine, Private Eye, picked up on the story that gave me a chuckle. Lord Gnome’s spoof leader in the Christmas Eve edition, 1999, read:

I am happy to announce that a settlement has been reached in the dispute between my newspaper and Mr Cashcroft, treasurer of the Conservative Party and UN Ambassador of the Republic of Selize.

At an informal drinks party aboard my aeroplane, Mr Cashcroft and I both agreed that it is unhelpful for newspapers to go prying into the affairs of very rich businessmen who choose to live abroad for the purposes of avoiding tax and who use their money to wield political influence.

We have, therefore, agreed to draw a line under this unfortunate affair.

Meanwhile, my editor Mr Stopwork has my fullest confidence, as he seeks alternative employment in what is a very tough market.

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