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On 1 June 1993, after years of waiting, the liberal newspaper The Guardian finally acquired the similarly liberal Sunday broadsheet, The Observer, from retailing-to-mining conglomerate Lonrho plc, for £27 million. 

Journalists throughout the British media, and Labour and Conservative politicians alike, breathed a collective sigh of relief that The Observer's "ruthless interfering proprietor" - Lonrho's chief executive Tiny Rowland - had finally been divested of his "mouthpiece".  For that is exactly how the British media had described Rowland's stewardship of The Observer.  And the history books would have recorded Rowland's tenure of the newspaper exactly so, unchallenged, had it not been for the passionate rejection of the charge by one of The Observer's former staff, the American investigative financial journalist, Lorana Sullivan.

A Dastardly Campaign
The Guardian's smearing of The Observer
(Rich Text document: 22,000 words, 300 kb)

Parliamentary activity
Re: The Harrods sale and Lonrho's ownership of The Observer (rtf doc, 480kb)

In December 1997, upon learning of Hunt & Keith-Hill's investigation into the 'cash for questions' affair, Lorana Sullivan contacted Hunt and expressed an interest in their work.  Over the following six months the two developed a friendship over the telephone, and she provided Hunt with valuable information from her & her colleagues' investigation into the Fayed brothers' fraudulent acquisition of Harrods. 

Hunt and Sullivan eventually met in London in July 1998.  During their conversation, Hunt suggested that her motivation for researching the Harrods affair might have been coloured by the fact that her research happened to substantiate her proprietor's claims and coincide with his business interests.  That is, after all, what Tiny Rowland's biographer, Tom Bower, had written in his book.  However, she firmly rejected the proposition.  Indeed, she expressed regret that her journalism had gone unrecognised and that she and her colleagues reputations on the City desk had suffered to boot.  Most regretfully, Lorana remained unrecognised for her exacting journalism right up to her untimely death, from cancer, in April 1999.

As a consequence of this conversation Hunt became curious as to how the prevailing viewpoint had come about that Tiny Rowland was an "interfering proprietor" and that Lorana and her colleagues were "Rowland's lapdogs and poodles".  But when Hunt looked into the matter in depth, the facts did not make sense.
    
This prevailing opinion had taken root as a consequence of a parliamentary campaign led by Labour MP Dale Campbell-Savours, who, in addition to rubbishing the motivation of The Observer's financial staff, had also denounced two individual articles which he alleged The Observer had published to further Lonrho's business interests.
    
The first of these which he denounced was written by The Observer's political editor Adam Raphael, and had alleged that the Tory government was turning a blind eye to bribes being paid to middlemen to effect arms sales to Jordan and Saudi Arabia.  The second article, which had been penned over three years earlier by The Observer's editor Donald Trelford, had reported that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's son, Mark, had flown to see the Sultan of Brunei with Mohamed Al Fayed in Fayed's private jet in October 1984.  The timing of this alleged trip was significant, for only a few days later a crucial decision had been made by the then Trade Secretary Norman Tebbit, which had effectively facilitated Fayed's fraudulent acquisition of Harrods with the Sultan's cash.  
    
Both of these articles had been hugely embarrassing to the Conservative government, against whom Dale Campbell-Savours would normally use any ammunition he could get his hands on, true or false.  Furthermore, at the time of their original publication Campbell-Savours had championed them in the Commons, as did his colleagues on the Labour benches.  Similarly, the articles produced by Lorana Sullivan and her colleagues on The Observer's City Desk, exposing Fayed's fraudulent acquisition of Harrods, were devastating for the Tory Government's reputation.  And yet, for no obvious reason in 1989 Dale Campbell-Savours began a campaign in which he denounced all these articles with parliamentary questions, points of order, 58 lengthy and passionate Parliamentary motion, and even complaints to the Press Complaints Commission, all with the support of arch-Left-wing Observer journalist David Leigh.  

Hunt could not understand why Campbell-Savours should develop such concern about the veracity of articles, every single one of which he and his Labour colleagues had used previously to criticise Margaret Thatcher's administration, especially when the nature of the articles was taken into account.  

With regard to the first article about bribes being paid to effect sales of military aircraft, it seemed odd that Campbell-Savours and Leigh should denounce a story that was damaging to one of the Left's usual targets, the British arms industry.  But if anything their joint denunciation of the second article, alleging that Fayed and Mark Thatcher had flown to see the Sultan in October 1984, was even stranger.

Hunt recalled that Campbell-Savours had collaborated with Leigh several times previously.  Their first cooperative venture had taken place during the first three months of 1984, when Leigh had penned over a dozen articles attacking Mark Thatcher over his involvement in a construction contract with the Cementation company in Oman.  Campbell-Savours had championed these articles in the Commons with at least 6 points of order and numerous other interventions, 15 oral questions, over 40 written questions, and several parliamentary motions, whipping up a brouhaha that caused Margaret Thatcher, her government, and her son, untold problems.  So, given their historical interest, it seemed bizarre that Campbell-Savours and Leigh should decry another article that was embarrassing to Margaret Thatcher and her son, and utterly preposterous that they had even called on Tiny Rowland to apologise to Mark Thatcher.

The evidence shows that Campbell-Savours and Leigh were actually involved in a covert campaign to wear down the board of Lonrho with negative publicity about their company's ownership of The Observer, to the point that they would eventually sell the paper over Tiny Rowland's head.  Working in cahoots with Guardian editor Peter Preston, whose agenda-setting newspaper implied that their allegations had foundation, the three conspirators planned that once Lonrho put The Observer on the market, Preston, who had been trying to buy The Observer for years, would then snap it up as The Guardian's Sunday broadsheet.  Which is exactly what happened on 1 June 1993.

The two Rich Text Format documents accessible at the head of this page provide all the proof necessary.  

In tribute to Lorana Sullivan, Jonathan Boyd Hunt has transcribed and reproduced in Section Six of this website all of the articles written by her and her Observer colleagues on the Harrods Affair.  These articles, exposing Fayed as a liar and thief, led to the famous 1990 DTI report, highlights of which are also reproduced in Section Six .  Also see Hunt's tribute to Lorana Sullivan in Section One; and Hunt's profiles of Campbell-Savours and Leigh in the document entitled "The Webs They Weave", which can be found in Section Three.