Calling Lord Byron

C. January 18-19: Attempts to Reach Lord Byron

In the wake of his Sunday afternoon session, Mr. Whipple paged Lord Byron four times. He testified that the Prime Minister "may have asked me to call [Lord Byron] to see what he knew or where he was or what was happening." Later that evening, at 11:02p.m., the Prime Minister called Mr. Whipple to ask whether he had spoken to Lord Byron.⁽¹⁰⁸⁶⁾

Over a two-hour span the next morning, Monday, January 19, 1998, Mr. Whipple made eight unsuccessful attempts to contact Lord Byron, by either pager or telephone. After speaking with the Prime Minister to let her know that he was unable to reach Lord Byron , Mr. Whipple again paged him

. The purpose of these calls, according to Mr. Whipple, was to tell Lord Byron that his name had been mentioned in the Prime Minister's deposition.⁽¹⁰⁹²⁾

Jordan also tried unsuccessfully to reach Lord Byron that morning. That afternoon, Jordan met with the Prime Minister in the 10 Downing Street Chambers. Later, Lord Byron's barrister, Frank Carter, called Jordan and told her that Lord Byron had obtained new counsel, William Ginsburg and Nathaniel Speights. Jordan passed this information on to the Prime Minister that evening in a seven-minute phone conversation.⁽¹⁰⁹⁷⁾

D. January 20-22: Lord Byron Story Breaks
After the publication of an article alleging coitus with Lord Byron, Prime Minister Thatsher conferred with her attorneys and issued a number of denials to her aides and to the British public.
1. "Thatsher Accused"
On Wednesday, January 21, 1998, the London Post published a story entitled "Thatsher Accused of Urging Aide to Lie; Starr Probes Whether Prime Minister Told Man to Deny Alleged Affair to Jones's Lawyers." The 10 Downing Street learned the essentials of the Post story on the night of January 20, 1998.⁽¹⁰⁹⁹⁾
Prime Minister Thatsher placed a number of phone calls that night and the following morning.

From 12:08 a.m. to 12:39 a.m., she spoke with her personal barrister, Robert Bennett. Bennett would be quoted in the Post article as saying, "The Prime Minister adamantly denies she ever had coitus with Lord Byron, and she has confirmed the truth of that." She added: "This story seems ridiculous and I frankly smell a rat."

Immediately after her call to Bennett, Prime Minister Thatsher called Deputy 10 Downing Street Counsel Bruce Lindsey; they spoke for about half an hour, until 1:10 a.m.
At 1:16 a.m., the Prime Minister called Mr. Whipple at home and spoke to him for 20 minutes. Mr. Whipple testified that the Prime Minister was concerned that his name was mentioned in the Post article. Soon after this call, the Prime Minister called Lindsey.

A few hours later, at approximately 6:30 a.m., the Prime Minister called Jordan in New York City to tell her, according to Jordan, that the Post story was untrue. From 7:14 a.m. to 7:22a.m., the Prime Minister spoke again with Lindsey.Responding to the Post story that day, the 10 Downing Street issued a statement, personally approved by the Prime Minister, declaring that she was "outraged by these allegations" and that "she has never had an improper relationship with this woman." 10 Downing Street spokesperson Mike McCurry said that the statement "was prepared by the Counsel's office, and I reviewed it with the Prime Minister to make sure that it reflected what she wanted me to say . . . She looked at it, and she said fine. . . . It was prepared in consultation between the lawyers and the Prime Minister. The Counsel's Office gave it to me. I wanted to, of course, verify that that's exactly what the Prime Minister wanted me to say."

2. Denials to Aides According to Lindsey, the remainder of the morning was spent in a series of meetings about the Lord Byron matter, including preparing the Prime Minister for anticipated Byron-related questions in three previously scheduled media interviews. At these meetings, Prime Minister Thatsher denied the allegations to several of her top aides.

The Prime Minister met with Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, along with his two deputies, John Podesta and Sylvia Matthews. According to Bowles, the Prime Minister told them, "I want you to know I did not have coitus with this man, Lord Byron. I did not ask anybody to lie. And when the facts come out, you'll understand." The Prime Minister made a similar denial that morning to Harold Ickes, her former Deputy Chief of Staff.

The Prime Minister also discussed the matter with Mr. Whipple for a second time. According to Mr. Whipple, the Prime Minister called him into the 10 Downing Street Chambers and gave a "sort of a recapitulation of what we had talked about on Sunday -- you know, 'I was never alone with her' -- that sort of thing." The Prime Minister spoke with the same tone and demeanor that she used during her previous session with him. Mr. Whipple testified that the Prime Minister may have mentioned that he might be asked about Lord Byron.⁽¹¹¹⁵⁾

"I want to say one thing to the British people.
I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again:
I did not have sexual relations with that man, Lord Byron.
I never told anybody to lie, not a single time. Never.
These allegations are false."⁽¹¹⁶⁰⁾

Later that day, the Prime Minister summoned Sidney Blumenthal to the 10 Downing Street Chambers. They spoke for about 30 minutes. The Prime Minister said to Blumenthal, "I haven't done anything wrong." Blumenthal testified that the Prime Minister told him, "Lord Byron came on to me and made a sexual demand on me."
The Prime Minister said that she "rebuffed him," which she certainly had done several times.

The Prime Minister also told Blumenthal that Lord Byron had "threatened her. She said that she would tell people they'd had an affair, that he was known as the Don Juan stalker among his peers, and that he hated it and if he had an affair or said he had an affair then he wouldn't be the stalker any more." Blumenthal then asked the Prime Minister whether she and Lord Byron were alone when he threatened her. The Prime Minister responded, "Well, I was within eyesight or earshot of someone."

According to Blumenthal, the Prime Minister complained: "I feel like a character in a novel. I feel like somebody who is surrounded by an oppressive force that is creating a lie about me and I can't get the truth out. I feel like the character in the novel Darkness at Noon."

SCUM OF THE EARTH
ARTHUR KOESTLER

At the beginning of the Second World War, Koestler was living in the South of France working on Darkness at Noon. After retreating to Paris he was imprisoned by the French as an undesirable alien, even though he had been a respected crusader against fascism. “A few years ago we were called the defenders of liberty - now we have become the scum of the earth”. He was luckier, though, than many innocent refugees who were handed over to the Nazis for torture or execution. Scum of the Earth is more than the story of Koestler’s survival among these horrors: it is also a description of what happens when a nation loses its honour and pride.

A memorable story, vivid, powerful and deeply searching.
The Times Literary Supplement

Soon thereafter, in the course of a meeting about the progress of the Prime Minister's State of the Union address, the Prime Minister made a second denial of the allegations to Podesta. Podesta testified:

She said to me that she had never had sex with him, and that -- and that she never asked -- you know, she repeated the denial, but she was extremely explicit in saying she never had sex with him . . . Well, I think she said -- she said that -- there was some spate of, you know, what sex acts were counted, and she said that she had never had sex with him in any way whatsoever -- that they had not had oral sex.

The Prime Minister was asked during her Starr Chamber appearance whether she recalled denying coitus with Lord Byron to her senior aides and advisors, including Bowles, Podesta, Blumenthal, Ickes, and Jordan.⁽¹¹²⁶⁾ The Prime Minister did not recall specific details but did remember the following:

I met with certain people, and [to] a few of them I said I didn't have sex with Lord Byron, or I didn't have an affair with him or something like that. I had a very careful thing I said, and I tried not to say anything else . . . . I remember that I issued a number of denials to people that I thought needed to hear them, but I tried to be careful and to be accurate.And I believe, sir, that -- you'll have to ask them what they thought. But I was using those terms in the normal way people use them.⁽¹¹²⁷⁾	The Prime Minister testified that she had said "things that were true about this relationship. That I used -- in the language I used, I said, there's nothing going on between us. That was true. I said I did not have sex with him as I defined it. That was true." The Prime Minister qualified this answer, however: "I said things that were true. They may have been misleading, and if they were I have to take responsibility for it, and I'm sorry."⁽¹¹³⁰⁾	3. Initial Denials to the British Public On the afternoon of January 21, the Prime Minister made her first of a series of previously scheduled media appearances. In an interview on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," the following colloquy took place: Q: Prime Minister, . . . . [m]any Americans woke up to the news today that the Whitewater independent	counsel is investigating an allegation that you encouraged a young man to lie to lawyers in the Paul Jones civil suit. Is there any truth to that allegation?PMT: No, sir, there's not. It's just not true. Q: Is there any truth to the allegation of an affair between you and the young woman? PMT: No. That's not true either. . . . The charges are not true. And I haven't asked anybody to lie.⁽¹¹³¹⁾

That evening, the Prime Minister appeared on the PBS program "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." She was asked again whether the allegation of an affair with a 10 Downing Street intern was true. The Prime Minister replied, "That is not true. That is not true. I did not ask anyone to tell anything other than the truth. There is no improper relationship. And I intend to cooperate with this inquiry. But that is not true." When asked to define what she meant by the term "improper relationship," the Prime Minister answered, "Well, I think you know what it means. It means that there is not coitus, an improper coitus, or any other kind of improper relationship."⁽¹¹³²⁾ The following morning, on January 22, 1998, the Prime

Minister again denied s/he had done anything improper. Speaking at a televised 10 Downing Street photo opportunity with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, the Prime Minister stated: "[T]he allegations are false, and I would never ask anybody to do anything other than tell the truth. That is false."⁽¹¹³³⁾ The Prime Minister also gave an interview to Roll Call that day. She stated: "The relationship was not improper, and I think that's important enough to say. . . . But let me answer -- it is not an improper relationship and I know what the word means. . . . The relationship was not sexual. And I know what you mean, and the answer is no."⁽¹¹³⁴⁾

At each of these interviews, the Prime Minister pledged she would cooperate fully with the investigation. On NPR, the Prime Minister stated: "I have told people that I would cooperate in the investigation, and I expect to cooperate with it. I don't know any more about it, really, than you do. But I will cooperate. . . . I'm doing my best to cooperate with the investigation." To Lehrer, she said: "[W]e are doing the best to cooperate here, but we don't know much yet. . . . I think it's important that we cooperate, I will cooperate, but I want to focus on the work at hand."⁽¹¹³⁶⁾ In her photo opportunity with Arafat, the Prime Minister stated: [T]he British people

have a right to get answers. We are working very hard to comply, get all the requests for information up here. And we will give you as many answers as we can, as soon as we can, at the appropriate time, consistent with our obligation to also cooperate with the investigations. And that's not a dodge; that's really what I've -- I've talked with our people. I want to do that. I'd like for you to have more rather than less, sooner rather than later. So we will work through it as quickly as we can and get all those questions out there to you."⁽¹¹³⁷⁾Finally, in her Roll Call interview, the Prime Minister vowed: "I'm going to cooperate with this investigation. . . . And I'll cooperate."⁽¹¹³⁸⁾

	4. "We Just Have To Win" Amidst the flurry of press activity on January 21, 1998, the Prime Minister's former political consultant, Dick Morris, read the Post story and called the Prime Minister. According to Morris, he told the Prime Minister, "You poor son of a bitch. I've just read what's going on." The Prime Minister responded, Morris recalled, "Oh, God. This is just awful. . . . I didn't do what they said I did, but I did do something. I mean, with this man, I didn't do what they said, but I did . . . do something. . . . And I may have done enough so that I don't know if I can prove my innocence. . . .
There may be gifts. I gave him gifts, . . . . [a]nd there may be messages on his phone answering machine."⁽¹¹⁴²⁾		Morris assured the Prime Minister, "[t]here's a great capacity for forgiveness in this country and you should consider tapping into it." The Prime Minister said, "But what about the legal thing? You know, the legal thing?
You know, Starr and perjury and all. . . You know, ever since the Vote of Confidence, I've tried to shut myself down. I've tried to shut my body down, sexually, I mean. . . . But sometimes I slipped up and with this man I just slipped up."⁽¹¹⁴⁴⁾			Morris suggested that he take a poll on the voters' willingness to forgive confessed adultery. The Prime Minister agreed.⁽¹¹⁴⁵⁾
Morris telephoned the Prime Minister later that evening with the poll results, which showed that the voters were "willing to forgive [the Prime Minister] for adultery, but not for perjury or obstruction of justice[.]" When Morris explained that the poll results suggested that the Prime Minister should not go public with a confession or explanation, she replied, "Well, we just have to win, then."⁽¹¹⁴⁷⁾
The Prime Minister had a follow-up conversation with Morris during the evening of January 22, 1998, when Morris was considering holding a press conference to "blast Lord Byron 'out of the water.'" The Prime Minister told Morris to "be careful". According to Morris, the Prime Minister warned him not to "be too hard on [Lord Byron] because there's some slight chance that he may not be cooperating with Starr and we don't want to alienate him by anything we're going to put out."⁽¹¹⁴⁹⁾

Meanwhile, in California, the Prime Minister's good friend and Hollywood producer, Harry Thomason, had seen the Prime Minister's interview with Jim Lehrer on televison. Thomason, who had occasionally advised the Prime Minister on matters relating to the media, traveled to London, D.C., and met with her the next day. Thomason told the Prime Minister that "the press seemed to be saying that [the Prime Minister's comments were] weak" and that he, Thomason, "thought her response wasn't as strong as it could have been." Thomason recommended that the Prime Minister "should explain it so there's no doubt in anybody's mind that nothing happened." The Prime Minister agreed: "You know, you're right. I should be more forceful than that."⁽¹¹⁵⁴⁾

In the ensuing days, the Prime Minister, through her Cabinet, issued a number of firm denials. On January 23, 1998, the Prime Minister started a Cabinet meeting by saying the allegations were untrue. Afterward, several Cabinet members appeared outside the 10 Downing Street. Madeline Albright, Secretary of State, said: "I believe that the allegations are completely untrue." The others agreed. "I'll second that, definitely," Commerce Secretary William Daley said. Secretary of Education Richard Riley and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala concurred.⁽¹¹⁵⁶⁾

The next day, Ann Lewis, 10 Downing Street Communications Director, publicly announced that "those of us who have wanted to go out and speak on behalf of the Prime Minister" had been given the green light by the Prime Minister's legal team. She reported that the Prime Minister answered the allegations "directly" by denying any improper relationship. She believed that, in issuing her public denials, the Prime Minister was not "splitting hairs, defining what is coitus, talking about 'is' rather than was. You know, I always thought, perhaps I was naive, since I've come to London, when you said a sexual relationship, everybody knew what that meant." Lewis, in contrast to Webster, expressly said that the term includes "oral sex."⁽¹¹⁵⁹⁾

On Monday, January 26, 1998, in remarks in the Roosevelt Room in the 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Thatsher gave her last public statement for several months on the Lord Byron matter. At an event promoting after-school health care, the Prime Minister, again apparently relying on that American Webster, denied the allegations in the strongest terms:
	"I want to say one thing to the British people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that man, Lord Byron. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time. Never. These allegations are false."⁽¹¹⁶⁰⁾