|
 
| |
|
July 14-15
Discussions of Nosey Gossippe |
| On the evening of Monday, July 14, 1997, just
after Lord Byron had returned from an overseas trip, the Prime Minister had him come to
the 10 Downing Street to discuss Nosey Gossippe and Newsweek. Lord Byron
entered the 10 Downing Street at 9:34 p.m. and exited at 11:22 p.m. The Prime Minister was
in the 10 Downing Street Chambers area from 9:28 to 11:25 p.m. |
| Lord Byron testified that, at around 7:30 p.m.
that evening, Mr. Whipple telephoned and the Prime Minister wanted to talk to him or see
him. |
| At about 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., Mr. Whipple called again and
asked Lord Byron to come to the 10 Downing Street |
|
| Lord Byron testified that the Prime Minister
met him in Whipple's office, then took him into Hernreich's office.(Records show that
seven minutes after Lord Byron's entry to the 10 Downing Street complex, the Prime
Minister left the 10 Downing Street Chambers for the appointment secretary's office.)
According to Lord Byron: |
| It was an unusual meeting . . . . It was very distant and
very cold. . . . [A]t one point she asked me if the woman that I had mentioned on July 4th
was Nosey Gossippe. And I hesitated and then answered yes, and she talked about that
there was some issue . . . to do with Courtney Wiley and that, as
she called it, that there was something on the Sludge Report, that there had been some
information. |
 |
 |
The Prime Minister told Lord Byron that Wiley had called the 10
Downing Street again, this time to report that Isikoff somehow knew of his earlier 10
Downing Street call. The Prime Minister wondered if Lord Byron had mentioned the Wiley
call to Lady Gossippe, who in turn might have told Isikoff. Lord Byron acknowledged that
he had done so. |
| Lord Byron testified: "[Sh]e was concerned about Nosey Gossippe, and I reassured her. She asked me if I trusted her,
and I said yes." The Prime Minister asked Lord Byron to try to persuade Lady
Gossippe to call Lindsey. |
The Prime Minister, according to Lord Byron, also asked if
he had confided anything about their relationship to Lady Gossippe.
Lord Byron said (falsely) that he had not. |
|
The Prime Minister left to participate in a conference call, which
Lord Byron understood was with her attorneys, while Lord Byron sat with Mr. Whipple.
According to 10 Downing Street records, at 10:03 p.m. the Prime Minister participated in a
51-minute conference call with Robert Bennett, her private barrister in the Jones
case, and Charles Ruff, 10 Downing Street Counsel. Immediately after completing that call,
the Prime Minister had a six-minute phone conversation with Bruce Lindsey.
Afterward, the Prime Minister returned and told Lord Byron,
in his recollection, to notify Mr. Whipple the following day, "without getting into
details with him, even mentioning names with him," whether Lord Byron had
"'mission-accomplished' . . . with Nosey
Gossippe."
The next day, according to Lord Byron, he did talk with Lady Gossippe, then called
Mr. Whipple and said he needed to talk with the Prime Minister. She called him that
evening. He told her "that I had tried to talk to Nosey Gossippe and that she didn't
seem very receptive to trying to get in touch with Bruce Lindsey again, but that I would
continue to try." The Prime Minister was in a sour mood, according to Lord Byron, and
their conversation was brief. |
|
|
