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Section One Index:
The censorship of Hunt & Keith-Hill's investigation

Up to 7 February 2003 Andy Smith was the President of the London-based Chartered Institute of Journalists (CIoJ) - the world's oldest professional association for journalists.  Writing in the institute's magazine The Journal he has often called for more accurate investigative reporting in the UK news media and spoken out against newspapers and magazines following political agendas or commercial interests. 
    In January 2003 The Journal published his final contribution as President - a review of J B Hunt's book Trial by Conspiracy, in which Hunt discusses evidence showing how The Guardian and Mohamed Fayed conspired to pervert the course of Sir Gordon Downey's Parliamentary inquiry into the paper's 'cash for questions' allegations against lobbyist Ian Greer, Neil Hamilton, and other Conservative MPs.  Despite the hugely controversial nature of Hunt & Keith-Hill's findings Andy indicated strong support for their research and analysis of the evidence.  He stated:

"I am willing to declare here and now that I am far more inclined to believe Jonathan Hunt's explanation in 'Trial' than the 'evidence', such as it is, offered up by Fayed and, indeed, the Guardian...  the evidence that Hunt proffers, and the arguments that he marshals in defence of Hamilton, are extremely convincing - certainly more so than the Guardian's theories." [Andy Smith's review of "Trial by Conspiracy" can be found in Section Seven of this website]

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is the former Washington correspondent for the London Daily Telegraph.  He is most famous for leading the exposure of President Bill Clinton's involvement in the Arkansas "Whitewater" affair; and for authoring the acclaimed USA-published book: The Secret Life of Bill Clinton.
    After being contacted by J B Hunt in January 1998 Ambrose examined scores of documents unearthed by Hunt & Keith-Hill (see Section Three of this website). Ambrose agreed that these proved that The Guardian's journalists had conspired with Mohamed Al Fayed and others to pervert Sir Gordon Downey's parliamentary inquiry into the paper's 'cash for questions' allegations.
    Subsequently Ambrose penned two articles for The Daily Telegraph about Hunt & Keith-Hill's work, but these were censored by his editor, Charles Moore

Charles Moore has not given any cogent explanation for his suppression of news about The Guardian's conspiracy. In 2001 J B Hunt discovered that the Telegraph's financial viability hangs on its lucrative long-term printing contracts with The Guardian in London & Manchester (see Section Four of this website).

Paul Johnson is best known in the UK for his columns in The Daily Mail and The Spectator.  In the USA and elsewhere Paul is recognised chiefly as the author of works such as A History of the American People; A History of Christianity; A History of the Jews; and Modern Times: the world from the Twenties to the Nineties. 
    After being contacted by Hunt in October 1997, Paul took an interest in Hunt & Keith-Hill's work. After examining a file of documents prepared by Hunt, he agreed that they showed that The Guardian had lied and presented false documents to Sir Gordon Downey's Parliamentary inquiry as part of a major cover-up. 
    Following the publication of Hunt's book Trial by Conspiracy in October 1998, Paul penned a provocative article for The Spectator, championing Hunt & Keith-Hill's work and challenging The Guardian to carry out its threats to sue Hunt for libel (Paul Johnson's article is reproduced in Section Seven of this website.).

During his time as the editor of The Spectator, Frank Johnson gave his columnists Stephen Glover, Taki Theadocupoulos, and Paul Johnson (no relation) free rein to write what they liked about The Guardian's various malfeasances. Frank also published several letters submitted by J B Hunt discussing aspects of his research. 
    Following the publication of several such articles and letters, in mid-April 1998 Frank received a threatening letter from The Guardian, marked "confidential", suggesting that The Spectator should stop its attacks. However Frank immediately rebuffed this crude intimidation publicly in a leading article entitled: "Help! The Guardian's Head of Press and Corporate Affairs has got physical with me".
    After he published further articles critical of The Guardian, including several airing Hunt & Keith-Hill's work, on 29 July 1999 Frank was sacked by Daniel Colson and Conrad Black, of The Spectator's owners, The Telegraph Group.

    In the four years that he had been at the Spectator's helm Frank Johnson had helped raise its circulation from 54,000 to 58,000. Frank also enjoyed enormous popularity among his staff.  As neither Daniel Colson nor Conrad Black offered any reason to explain why they dismissed him, and as The Daily Telegraph has continually resisted all temptation to air Hunt & Keith-Hill's evidence exposing The Guardian's cover-up (such as that discussed in Section Three of this website) it can be safely assumed that Frank Johnson was moved for the same reason that Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's articles on Hunt & Keith-Hill's investigation were spiked - to protect the Telegraph's lucrative printing contracts with The Guardian.

James Heartfield is a university lecturer and radical journalist of unimpeachable integrity and intellect.  Hunt first contacted James in late 1997 following an interest in the Hamilton affair taken by LM magazine (formerly Living Marxism), to which James was a principal contributor. 
    Over the following months James became increasingly intrigued by the anomalies in The Guardian's submissions to Sir Gordon Downey's parliamentary inquiry, which Hunt & Keith-Hill had highlighted in their interim report of October 1997. 
    Subsequently James undertook some research of his own, prior to writing a major article for LM magazine, entitled 'Cash, Questions, and Answers' (this is reproduced in Section Seven). This was the very first article airing Hunt & Keith-Hill's research. When it was published in March 1998 it reportedly caused pandemonium at The Guardian's London headquarters.

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