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15 February 1984: Three MPs who sit on the Conservative back-bench trade & industry Committee -- namely its chairman Michael Grylls, its secretary Tim Smith, and its vice-chairman Neil Hamilton -- take an interest in a battle for the ownership of Harrods department store being waged by controversial tycoon Tiny Rowland of Lonrho plc. 
     The Conservative backbench trade & industry committee is not an official parliamentary committee, but rather a Conservative Party committee made up of backbench Conservative MPs, which acts as the conduit through which backbench opinion on trade & industry matters is communicated to the Secretary of State for Trade & Industry and his junior ministers.
    The three Conservative MPs had been invited to lunch by Professor Roland Smith, chairman of House of Fraser, parent of Harrods.  Professor Smith had invited the MPs to give them a briefing on how the controversial tycoon, Tiny Rowland, Chief Executive of mining-to-retailing conglomerate Lonrho plc, was making hostile manoeuvres to buy the company.  Professor Smith and the majority of the Fraser board were against Lonrho owning Harrods -- as was the Conservative government, which had imposed an embargo on Lonrho buying the company. 

May 1984: Following a request from Labour MP Dale Campbell-Savours, the Select Committee on Members' Interests begins an investigation into the rising presence of professional parliamentary lobbyists at Westminster.
    The "Select Committee on Members' Interests" or the "Members' Interests Committee" is a cross-party parliamentary committee made up of 10 or so MPs who adjudicate on complaints against MPs who have been accused of breaking the rules governing the registration of Members' interests.

1 July 1984: The Observer publishes a major article by political editor Adam Raphael featuring lobbyist Ian Greer, implying that professional parliamentary lobbyists are bribing MPs to table parliamentary questions at £200 a time.  The article is slanted to create the impression that Greer is the lobbyist who is suspected of bribing MPs.

11 March 1985: Egyptian tycoon Mohamed 'Al' Fayed and his two brothers acquire Harrods stores group House of Fraser for £615 million with the full approval of the Conservative Party hierarchy and several leading British newspapers. 

17 March 1985: Melvyn Marckus, the City editor of the Lonrho-owned Observer newspaper, alleges that, contrary to Mohamed Fayed's claims, the Egyptian brothers' purchase of House of Fraser had been facilitated by funding other than their own.  Marckus berates Trade Secretary Norman Tebbit for approving the Fayeds' bid without a reference to the Monopolies Commission, and calls on Tebbit to appoint Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) Inspectors to investigate the sale.

March-November 1985: Articles in The Guardian, Financial Times, and especially The Observer, imply or allege explicitly that the Fayed brothers had fraudulently acquired House of Fraser with money acquired from the Sultan of Brunei.  Other newspapers continue to support the Government's decision to endorse the Fayeds' purchase.

June - July 1985: The Labour and LibDem spokesmen on Trade & Industry, Bryan Gould and Ian Wriggleworth, table 7 parliamentary questions to Trade Secretary Norman Tebbit questioning the government's handling of the sale of House of Fraser.

5 November 1985: Mohamed Fayed engages lobbyist Ian Greer to orchestrate support among MPs against moves by Fayed's rival, Tiny Rowland, to divest him of House of Fraser.

11 November 1985: Conservative backbench MP Neil Hamilton tables two parliamentary questions drafted by lobbyist Ian Greer for answer by the Trade Secretary Norman Tebbit.  The questions imply that The Observer is being used by its proprietor Tiny Rowland in furtherance of his dispute against Mohammed Al Fayed.

1 December 1985: The Observer publishes an article by political editor Adam Raphael heralding the imminent release of the Members' Interests Committee's report on professional lobbyists; and decrying the increasing number of MPs engaged by lobbying companies for monetary gain.

15 December 1985: The Observer publishes two articles suggesting that lobbyists are paying MPs to support particular issues; and reporting that rumours are circulating at Westminster about corruption between lobbyists and MPs.

January-December 1986: Left-wing Labour MPs Dale Campbell-Savours, Tony Banks, and Brian Sedgemore, support Lonrho's barracking of the government to instigate a DTI inquiry into the Fayed brothers' acquisition of House of Fraser.  Conservative MPs Tim Smith and Eldon Griffiths counter by condemning Tiny Rowland over alleged abuse of The Observer newspaper. 
    The identified Parliamentary activity by all MPs during 1986 relating to House of Fraser, Fayed, Lonrho, or Tiny Rowland, is:     Written Questions: Tony Banks, L (3); Dale Campbell-Savours, L (7); Brian Sedgemore, L (1)
    Adjournment Debates: Tim Smith, C (1)
    Parliamentary Motions: Eldon Griffiths, C (1); Brian Sedgemore, L (2)

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