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The Margaret Thatcher, Rupert Murdoch Connection - Plus A Secret Dealings With The Saudis Subthread
by Peter Jukes Apr 9, 2013 4:45 AM EDT
The public remembers Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as ‘ideological soulmates.’ But it was the Iron Lady’s connection with Rupert Murdoch that was key, argues Peter Jukes.
=snip=
It was just at this moment that Murdoch launched a bid for the Times Group Newspapers. The deal should have been referred to the competition authorities as Murdoch already owned a substantial chunk of Fleet Street. But as revealed by the Thatcher archives during the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics last year, Murdoch secretly met with the prime minister at her country residence in Chequers in early 1981 to discuss the takeover.
The deal was waived through, and The Times, often considered the in-house journal of the British ruling classes, joined the tabloids in supporting Thatcher’s radical right-wing reforms.
She won by a landslide in the 1983 election—albeit with a smaller share of the vote. When Murdoch moved his News International newsgroup to a new headquarters in Wapping overnight in 1986, he was widely hailed as a savior of the British press. The nightly confrontations with print union pickets outside the new building became almost as iconic of the ‘80s as the miners' strike two years before. Thatcher promised Murdoch stalwart police support, sowing the seeds of a close relationship between News International and the Metropolitan police, that would cause problems during the hacking scandal exposed in 2011.
But Thatcher owed Murdoch more than just press advocacy. As the minutes from the 1981 meeting make clear, Murdoch offered to introduce Maggie to key players behind the scenes in Washington just before Reagan was to be inaugurated as president. He’d already relocated to New York from London several years before Thatcher’s election, and was attuned to the combative style of American new right thinking, especially from senior Nixon aides like Roger Ailes (who would go on to run Murdoch’s Fox News Network) and Pat Buchanan, who came up with the tactic of “positive polarization” around social issues.
More: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/09/the-margaret-thatcher-rupert-murdoch-connection.html
The public remembers Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as ‘ideological soulmates.’ But it was the Iron Lady’s connection with Rupert Murdoch that was key, argues Peter Jukes.
=snip=
It was just at this moment that Murdoch launched a bid for the Times Group Newspapers. The deal should have been referred to the competition authorities as Murdoch already owned a substantial chunk of Fleet Street. But as revealed by the Thatcher archives during the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics last year, Murdoch secretly met with the prime minister at her country residence in Chequers in early 1981 to discuss the takeover.
The deal was waived through, and The Times, often considered the in-house journal of the British ruling classes, joined the tabloids in supporting Thatcher’s radical right-wing reforms.
She won by a landslide in the 1983 election—albeit with a smaller share of the vote. When Murdoch moved his News International newsgroup to a new headquarters in Wapping overnight in 1986, he was widely hailed as a savior of the British press. The nightly confrontations with print union pickets outside the new building became almost as iconic of the ‘80s as the miners' strike two years before. Thatcher promised Murdoch stalwart police support, sowing the seeds of a close relationship between News International and the Metropolitan police, that would cause problems during the hacking scandal exposed in 2011.
But Thatcher owed Murdoch more than just press advocacy. As the minutes from the 1981 meeting make clear, Murdoch offered to introduce Maggie to key players behind the scenes in Washington just before Reagan was to be inaugurated as president. He’d already relocated to New York from London several years before Thatcher’s election, and was attuned to the combative style of American new right thinking, especially from senior Nixon aides like Roger Ailes (who would go on to run Murdoch’s Fox News Network) and Pat Buchanan, who came up with the tactic of “positive polarization” around social issues.
More: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/09/the-margaret-thatcher-rupert-murdoch-connection.html
Thatcher papers show how Murdoch’s media domination was secured
By Dave Hyland
27 March 2012
The private papers of the former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, have been opened to the public. They contain a note written by Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham, of a private meeting she held with Rupert Murdoch, the owner of News International.
The meeting took place on January 4, 1981, at a lunch at Chequers, the grace and favour home used by sitting prime ministers. The note strongly suggests that a deal was agreed there that enabled Murdoch to bypass parliament’s Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
=snip=
Ingham’s note explains how Murdoch, with Thatcher’s approval, was able to establish a dominant position over the press in Britain that has been used over the last 30 years to manipulate public opinion and prop up successive right-wing governments.
=snip=
Murdoch “stressed the inevitability of progress” and told Thatcher he hoped to make the Times operationally profitable by bringing in new technology and “achieving a 25 percent reduction in overall manning,” while “standing-up to the powerful Fleet Street unions”. This was music to Thatcher’s ears, and subsequent documented events show she was determined it was Murdoch that would secure a near-monopoly over the UK newspaper Industry.
More: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/03/murd-m27.html
By Dave Hyland
27 March 2012
The private papers of the former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, have been opened to the public. They contain a note written by Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham, of a private meeting she held with Rupert Murdoch, the owner of News International.
The meeting took place on January 4, 1981, at a lunch at Chequers, the grace and favour home used by sitting prime ministers. The note strongly suggests that a deal was agreed there that enabled Murdoch to bypass parliament’s Monopolies and Mergers Commission.
=snip=
Ingham’s note explains how Murdoch, with Thatcher’s approval, was able to establish a dominant position over the press in Britain that has been used over the last 30 years to manipulate public opinion and prop up successive right-wing governments.
=snip=
Murdoch “stressed the inevitability of progress” and told Thatcher he hoped to make the Times operationally profitable by bringing in new technology and “achieving a 25 percent reduction in overall manning,” while “standing-up to the powerful Fleet Street unions”. This was music to Thatcher’s ears, and subsequent documented events show she was determined it was Murdoch that would secure a near-monopoly over the UK newspaper Industry.
More: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/03/murd-m27.html
Thatcher was 'soulmate' for Murdoch
Mr Mellor – a Conservative MP between 1979 and 1997 – said Mrs Thatcher was “ready to bend the rules” for Mr Murdoch.
“I was responsible for media policy, including press regulation, for much of the period from 1983-1992, at the Home Office and at the Department of National Heritage,” said Mr Mellor in a written witness statement.
“I was a close witness to the arrangements whereby Rupert Murdoch became the most powerful press baron in the history of the United Kingdom.
“Murdoch’s undeniable love for newspapers made him a buyer when others weren’t, while his straightforward right wing populist opinions made him a soulmate for Mrs Thatcher, who at that time, the early 80s, didn’t have that many.
“She was therefore ready to bend the rules to allow him to establish a commanding position over the UK print media, and to take on a position of political influence which was to remain unbroken for more than a quarter of a century. "
More: http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/thatcher-was-soulmate-for-murdoch-556842.html
Mr Mellor – a Conservative MP between 1979 and 1997 – said Mrs Thatcher was “ready to bend the rules” for Mr Murdoch.
“I was responsible for media policy, including press regulation, for much of the period from 1983-1992, at the Home Office and at the Department of National Heritage,” said Mr Mellor in a written witness statement.
“I was a close witness to the arrangements whereby Rupert Murdoch became the most powerful press baron in the history of the United Kingdom.
“Murdoch’s undeniable love for newspapers made him a buyer when others weren’t, while his straightforward right wing populist opinions made him a soulmate for Mrs Thatcher, who at that time, the early 80s, didn’t have that many.
“She was therefore ready to bend the rules to allow him to establish a commanding position over the UK print media, and to take on a position of political influence which was to remain unbroken for more than a quarter of a century. "
More: http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/thatcher-was-soulmate-for-murdoch-556842.html
10 replies
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Workin it 
