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(Continued from overleaf)
Q. How hard did you find the process of writing the book, and getting all the pieces of the jigsaw in place?
A.
Initially, putting the story together was incredibly difficult. Then there were so many issues, so many allegations. Neil Hamilton insisted that he was telling us the truth, and yet
The Guardian, which I had no reason to disbelieve, had condemned him as a liar. Accordingly, we could not assume that anything anyone said was true, until we had double-checked the facts for ourselves. The temptation was to not bother getting involved.
However, after months of research, the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle did indeed start to fall into place, quicker and quicker with each new discovery, until we discovered the real story that lay behind
The Guardian's original article, of which Hamilton himself had not been aware. It's a fascinating story of how a newspaper embarked on a cover-up, once it realised that it had printed a false and evidence-free story accusing an innocent lobbyist and an innocent government minister.
Our first big breakthrough came in October 1997, when Downey replied to Hamilton's request for confirmation that a document, which
The Guardian's editor had submitted to the inquiry as being a two-page extract from a journalist's affidavit, had, in fact, been authenticated by the journalist concerned.
Despite The Guardian editor's description of this document, after five months' research we had concluded that it was unlikely to have been authenticated by the journalist. We believed that the statements within this document were false, but that the journalist in whose name they were presented had resisted becoming embroiled in the paper's cover-up.
Accordingly we asked Hamilton to write to Downey to establish whether our analysis was correct.
Downey replied on 7 October 1997 and confirmed that this document had not been signed nor even written by the journalist who, according to
The Guardian's editor, had sworn it on oath.
After my fellow investigator returned home overseas in December 1997, each of my subsequent discoveries confirmed our earlier interpretation of facts and events, proving that a massive cover-up had indeed taken place at
The Guardian newspaper. However, there were many times that I thought, "That's it, I've got to the very bottom of the story", only to go on and discover yet another important aspect.
Q. Do you think that Martin Bell was right to stand in Tatton?
A. No. Though Martin Bell lives across the street from my parents in the pretty Cheshire village of Great Budworth, Bell has refused my many requests to examine the evidence we have collated. Additionally, Bell has refused my request to list Neil Hamilton's wrongdoing, upon which he supposedly stood to justify his entry in the election. Those two facts speak volumes about the man.
Q. What do you think about George Osborne, the prospective parliamentary
candidate for the Conservative Party in Tatton?
A. I know nothing about him. I'll let you know my opinion when I learn whether he wants to 'draw a line' under the Hamilton affair and ignore the important issues that I am now bringing into the public arena for the first time.
Q. How can anyone interested find out more information about your work?
A. My book, Trial by Conspiracy (ISBN 0473051230), is available from the shops and websites of
Politico's, Westminster; Waterstone's; Dillons;
and WH Smith; price £15.99 or less. For those who prefer to be able to search the book electronically, my book is currently included with works by John Redwood and Christopher Booker on a CDROM produced by The Silent Majority, which can be purchased from their website www.silentmajority.co.uk price £20 for two.
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