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(Continued from overleaf)

'The purpose of my letter of 9 March is to put you on notice that The Guardian denies the original defamatory allegations made by you and that it does not consent to the repetition of these allegations or the publication of further allegations. 
    The letter also puts you on notice that The Guardian requires you to put any further allegations you intend to publish in writing…  You refuse to put your allegations in writing because you believe that Alan Rusbridger and certain of his staff "will concoct all manner of false explanations to [your] questions if [you] were to do so."  But you want to interview them…  The position you have adopted is not credible…  There is little point in litigating this matter by correspondence…'

Taken from a second letter from The Guardian's head of legal affairs, Siobhain Butterworth, to Jonathan Boyd Hunt, dated 20 March 1998, containing more veiled threats of legal action but no assent to Hunt's request for interviews.

With regard to your request that I put in writing all further allegations to The Guardian, the most serious allegations I make are listed in my letters to Alan Rusbridger, dated 3 and 5 February 1998, and in my letter to you, dated 11 March 1998.  I may make other allegations in due course, but the nature of these will be dependant on whether The Guardian gives interviews, during which satisfactory answers are provided to my questions... 
    The stark fact is, I am now giving Alan Rusbridger and his staff ample opportunity to answer my questions months in advance of any allegations about them being widely disseminated to the public... 
    After nearly a year's examination of all the evidence before Downey, plus other evidence from the libel trial, I have identified countless gross anomalies in The Guardian's evidence and reporting.  Therefore, once again I formerly request that I am provided interviews with: David Hencke; David Leigh; John Mullin; David Pallister; Peter Preston; Alan Rusbridger; Michael White and Jamie Wilson.'

Taken from Hunt's reply to Siobhain Butterworth, dated 27 March 1998.  Butterworth did not respond.

'The book is based on a draft Hamilton submitted to newspapers and to MPs investigating him more than a year ago.  It claims that The Guardian invented evidence against Hamilton and that its reporters and editors conspired to falsify their testimony to Sir Gordon Downey, the Parliamentary Commissioner who found "compelling" evidence that Hamilton took cash from the Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed.  Hunt has never spoken to any of the Guardian journalists he accuses.'

Taken from an unsigned smear article about J. B. Hunt, published in The Guardian on 19 October 1998, timed to coincide with the launch that day of Hunt's book "Trial by Conspiracy".

"It is not true.  There was no forgery and no lying.  The Book is written by someone who published his main findings without bothering to speak to any of the characters he feverishly seeks to smear"

Alan Rusbridger's comments following the launch of 'Trial by Conspiracy', as quoted in an article by Andrew Sparrow published in the Daily Telegraph on 20 October 1998.

(Comment: The Guardian's mendacious articles that constitute its 'cash for questions' campaign, the false evidence that The Guardian submitted to Sir Gordon Downey's parliamentary inquiry into the affair; The Guardian's refusal to answer questions about a) its reporting and b) its evidence to the Downey Inquiry; and The Guardian's intimidation and smearing of Jonathan Boyd Hunt and Malcolm Keith-Hill; discredit completely The Guardian's claims to be a 'free thinking' and accountable liberal newspaper.)

Build-up to Rusbridger's whopping lie