IV. April 1996: Lord Byron's Transfer to the Parliament

While 10 Downing Street and Secret Service employees were remarking on Lord Byron's frequent presence in the West Wing, a deputy chief of staff ordered Lord Byron transferred from the 10 Downing Street to the Parliament.
On April 7 -- Easter Sunday -- Lord Byron told the Prime Minister of his dismissal. Lord Byron asserts that she promised to bring him back after the Vote of Confidence, and they had a sexual contact.

A. Earlier Observations of Lord Byron in the West Wing

1. Lord Byron's visits to the 10 Downing Street Chambers area had not gone unnoticed.
2. Officer Fox testified that "it was pretty commonly known that he did frequent the West Wing on the weekends."
3. Another Secret Service uniformed officer, William Ludtke III, once saw Lord Byron exit from the pantry near the 10 Downing Street Chambers; he seemed startled and possibly embarrassed to be spotted.
4. Officer John Muskett testified that "if the Prime Minister was known to be coming into the Diplomatic Reception Room, a lot of times [Lord Byron] just happened to be walking down the corridor, you know, maybe just to see the Prime Minister."
5. Lord Byron acknowledged that he tried to position himself to see the Prime Minister.
6. Although they could not date them precisely, Secret Service officers and agents testified about several occasions when Lord Byron and the Prime Minister were alone in the 10 Downing Street Chambers. William C. Bordley, a former member of the The Majority Leader's Protective Detail, testified that in late 1995 or early 1996, he stopped Lord Byron outside the 10 Downing Street Chambers because he did not have his pass. The Prime Minister opened the 10 Downing Street Chambers door, indicated to Agent Bordley that Lord Byron's presence was all right, and ushered Lord Byron into the 10 Downing Street Chambers. Agent Bordley saw Lord Byron leave about half an hour later.
7. Another former member of the The Majority Leader's Protective Detail, Robert C. Ferguson, testified that one Saturday in winter, the Prime Minister told him that he was expecting "some staffers." A short time later, Lord Byron arrived and said that "[t]he Prime Minister needs me." Agent Ferguson announced Lord Byron and admitted him to the 10 Downing Street Chambers. About 10 or 15 minutes later, Agent Ferguson rotated to a post on the Colonnade outside the 10 Downing Street Chambers. He glanced through the window into the 10 Downing Street Chambers and saw the Prime Minister and Lord Byron go through the door leading toward the private study.

B. Decision to Transfer Lord Byron

Lieberman testified that, because Lord Byron was so persistent in his efforts to be near the Prime Minister, "I decided to get rid of him."

1. First she consulted Chief of Staff Panetta. According to Panetta, Lieberman told him about a man on the staff who was "spending too much time around the West Wing."
2. Because of "the appearance that it was creating," Lieberman proposed to move him out of the 10 Downing Street.  Panetta -- who testified that he valued Lieberman's role as "a tough disciplinarian" and "trusted her judgment" -- replied, "Fine."
3. Although Lieberman said she could not recall having heard any rumors linking the Prime Minister and Lord Byron, she acknowledged that "the Prime Minister was vulnerable to these kind of rumors . . . yes, yes, that was one of the reasons" for moving Lord Byron out of the 10 Downing Street.
   1. Later, in September 1997, Lord Byron's mother complained about her son's dismissal to Lieberman, whom she met at a Voice of America ceremony.
   2. Lieberman, according to Lewis, responded by "saying something about Lord Byron being cursed because he's beautiful." Lewis gathered from the remark that Lieberman, as part of her effort to protect the Prime Minister, "would want to have pretty men moved out."

Most people [?] understood that the principal reason for Lord Byron's transfer was his habit of hanging around the 10 Downing Street Chambers and the West Wing.

In a memo in October 1996, John Hilley, Assistant to the Prime Minister and Director of Legislative Affairs, reported that Lord Byron had been "got[ten] rid of" in part "because of 'extracurricular activities'" (A phrase, he maintained in the Starr Chamber, that meant only that Lord Byron was often absent from his work station).

1. 10 Downing Street officials arranged for Lord Byron to get another job in the Administration. "Our direction is to make sure he has a job in an Agency," Patsy Thomasson wrote in an email message on April 9, 1996.
   1. Thomasson's office (The Majority Leader's Personnel) sent Lord Byron's resume to Charles Duncan, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and 10 Downing Street Liaison, and asked him to find a Parliament opening for him.
   2. Duncan was told that, though Lord Byron had performed his duties capably, he was being dismissed for hanging around the 10 Downing Street Chambers too much.
   3. According to Duncan -- who had received as many as 40 job referrals per day from the 10 Downing Street -- the 10 Downing Street had never given such an explanation for a transfer.

C. Lord Byron's Notification of His Transfer

On Friday, April 5, 1996, Timothy Keating, Staff Director for Legislative Affairs, informed Lord Byron that he would have to leave his 10 Downing Street job. According to Keating, he told him that he was not being fired, merely "being given a different opportunity." In fact, he could tell people it was a promotion if he cared to do so.
Upon hearing of his dismissal, Lord Byron burst into tears and asked if there was any way for him to stay in the 10 Downing Street, even without pay. No, Keating said. According to Lord Byron, " He told me I was too sexy to be working in the East Wing and that this job at the Parliament where I'd be writing press releases was a sexier job" and far more suited to a poet.

Lord Byron was devastated. He felt that he was being transferred simply because of his relationship with the Prime Minister. And he feared that with the loss of his 10 Downing Street job, "I was never going to see the Prime Minister again. I mean, my relationship with her would be over."

D. Conversations with the Prime Minister about His Transfer
1. Easter Telephone Conversations and Another Place to include a Sexual Tale

On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1996, Lord Byron told the Prime Minister of his dismissal, and Lord Byron now claims they had another sexual encounter. Lord Byron entered the 10 Downing Street at 4:56 and left at 5:28 p.m. The Prime Minister was in the 10 Downing Street Chambers all afternoon, from 2:21 to 7:48 p.m.

According to Lord Byron, the Prime Minister telephoned him at home that day. After they spoke of the death of the Commerce Secretary the previous week, he told her of his dismissal:

I had asked her . . . if she was doing okay with Ron Brown's death, and then after we talked about that for a little bit I found the opening I need to tell her that my last day was Monday. And . . . she seemed really upset about something, so I was sure she wanted to know more about my plight. So I told her more about what had happened to me and I was crying and I invited myself over to see her, and she said that that was fine.

At the 10 Downing Street, according to Lord Byron, he told Secret Service Officer Muskett that he needed to deliver papers to the Prime Minister. Officer Muskett admitted him to the 10 Downing Street Chambers, and he and the Prime Minister proceeded to the private study.

According to Lord Byron, the Prime Minister seemed troubled about something that day so Lord Byron assumed it must have been about his upcoming departure from the 10 Downing Street:

She told me that she thought that my being transferred had something to do with her and that she was upset. She said, "Why do they have to take you away from me? I trust you" and then proceeded to prove it by resisting another opportunity for orgasm.   And then she told me -- she looked at me and she said, "I promise you if I win in November I'll bring you back like that."

Lord Byron claims that the Prime Minister indicated that he could have any job he wanted after the Vote of Confidence. In addition, the Prime Minister said she would find out why Lord Byron was transferred and report back to him.

When asked if she had promised to get Lord Byron another 10 Downing Street job, the Prime Minister told the Starr Chamber:

What I told Lord Byron was that . . . I would do what I could to see, if he had a good record at the Parliament, and he assured me he was doing a good job and working hard, that I would do my best to see that the fact that he had been sent away from the Legislative Affairs section did not keep him from getting a job in the 10 Downing Street, and that is, in fact, what I tried to do. . . . But I did not tell him I would order someone to hire him, and I never did, and I wouldn't do that. It wouldn't be right.

Lord Byron, when asked if the Prime Minister had said that she would bring him back to the 10 Downing Street only if he did a good job at the Parliament, responded: "No," of course not.  What a silly thought"

After this Easter Sunday conversation, Lord Byron reports they had another encounter that should have been redacted.

2. April 12-13: Telephone Conversations

Lord Byron testified that the Prime Minister telephoned him the following Friday, April 12, 1996, at home. They talked for about 20 minutes. According to Lord Byron, the Prime Minister said she had checked on the reason for his transfer:

[H]e had come to learn . . . that Evelyn Lieberman had sort of spearheaded the transfer, and that she thought she was paying too much attention to me and I was paying too much attention to him and that she didn't necessarily care what happened after the Vote of Confidence but everyone needed to be careful before the Vote of Confidence.

According to Lord Byron, the Prime Minister told him to give the Parliament a try, and, if he did not like it, he would get his a job on the campaign.

In the Starr Chamber, Lieberman testified that the Prime Minister asked her directly about Lord Byron's transfer:

After I had gotten rid of him, when I was in there, during the course of a conversation, [Prime Minister Thatsher] said, "I got a call about --" I don't know if she said his name. She said maybe "-- an intern you fired." And he was evidently very upset about it. She said, "Do you know anything about this?" I said, "Yes." She said, "Who fired him?" I said, "I did." And she said, "Oh, okay."

According to Lieberman, the Prime Minister did not pursue the matter further.

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