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The Thatcher Files: Murdoch Met Margaret Thatcher Over Times Takeover Bid

Posted: 17/03/2012 08:52 Updated: 17/03/2012 08:52   PA

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Margaret Thatcher Files
The Thatcher Files: Murdoch Met Margaret Thatcher Over Times Takeover Bid

Media boss Rupert Murdoch had a meeting with Margaret Thatcher at Chequers in January 1981 and discussed his bid to buy Times newspapers from the Thomson family, files reveal.

He outlined plans to make the operation profitable by introducing technology and lowering manning levels.

But records show there was no discussion of whether a bid would be referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC).

Detail of the meeting is contained in a note by Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham and marked "Commercial - In Confidence", files show.

Murdoch was confirmed as the new owner of The Times and Sunday Times in February 1981.

The deal was not referred to the MMC because ministers feared the newspapers could close if not sold quickly.

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Filed by Lucy Sherriff  | 
 
 
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novelist2000
veritas non olet
194 Fans
05:27 AM on 03/30/2012
To understand the Murdoch meanders, it is useful to read the memoirs of his mate Brian Crozier.
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tickeli
29 Fans
03:28 AM on 03/18/2012
I'm sure it would be easier to disclose what Murdoch did that was honest.
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Jacobtruth
90 Fans
11:48 PM on 03/17/2012
1997...When Unemployment Brown, Tony Blair and Allistair Campbell met Murdoch.

Rupert gave them pink tap dancing shoes, and for the next 10 years Blair, Brown and Campbell tap danced for Rupert whenever he asked them to.

They went to war in Iraq for him.

Then Rupert favoured Cameron and the BBC Labour party released data on how while Labour were in power Rupert used to hack.

I am sure if Rupert still supported Labour we would never have heard of his hacking.
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Sunshinesupit
12 Fans
10:12 PM on 03/17/2012
Surprise, surprise..

Equally surprising, that Blair should have courted the same person..

Or not.
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tickeli
29 Fans
03:37 AM on 03/18/2012
Blair and Thatcher before him received multi Million £ advances for their 'memoires' books. These advances were much, much more than would usually be paid.
The publishers of the books 'Harper Collins' was a Murdoch owed company. The huge advances were seen by many as a way of 'paying' Blair and Thatcher for their services to him?'
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Sunshinesupit
12 Fans
05:04 PM on 03/19/2012
I wouldn't argue with that analysis, tickeli.
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Cain1
3 Fans
08:59 PM on 03/17/2012
World party when the old witch croaks.
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Sunshinesupit
12 Fans
10:13 PM on 03/17/2012
The old witch would never have got into power if the two main parties hadn't been in a state of chaos over a period of years.
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tickeli
29 Fans
07:14 PM on 03/17/2012
I think from reading the comments here that the British People have lost all confidence in all 3 major Political parties and their politicians and that it is way beyond time for change.
Recent investigations have shown corruption to be rife in big business and politics so they have only themselves to blame. The big problem is where do we go from here... Answers Please to:
R. Murdoch and Son.
News International Ltd.
c/o anywhere in Israel.
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tickeli
29 Fans
06:47 AM on 03/18/2012
.... I forgot to include the Police in my comment.
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CLYDE1960
38 Fans
06:45 PM on 03/17/2012
WNEH SHE CAME IN WE OWNED EVERYTHING
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Yorksgal
'Conservative Christian' is a complete oxymoron.
1596 Fans
04:43 PM on 03/17/2012
Thatcher did so much harm to the UK - (as with Reagan in the US) - sadly her legacy is living on - just look around and you will see her "touch" everywhere.

As for her and Murdoch - it figures.
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Sunshinesupit
12 Fans
10:15 PM on 03/17/2012
Not as much damage as that heathen Harold Wilson, who had the gall to call a democratically elected MP in an industrial constituency "a parliamentary leper".

Each generation of politicians comes into its own..
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parrotfish
364 Fans
03:33 PM on 03/17/2012
We shouldn't be shocked at the intersection of politics/money/media they are all part of the controlling powers and they don't give a xxx about you and I. Of course it is all piling on by the mainstream media now that Murdochs crimes are being exposed, but where were the media before the internet to expose all this ? ...oh, ahhh they were controlled by Murhdoch so boys and girls we see how this plays out and if we ever make the gov. or corporations take more control of the internet it will be our fault for making that happen.
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Theatrixnyc
Remember John Lennon:Power To The People!
3892 Fans
04:29 PM on 03/17/2012
.oh, ahhh they were controlled by Murhdoch so boys and girls we see how this plays out and if we ever make the gov. or corporations take more control of the internet it will be our fault for making that happen.
**
Totally agree.
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tripcony
45 Fans
04:53 PM on 03/17/2012
totally agree with you and also imagine our ignorance now if we had no internet at all...thats what the media do not like that the public can find out more now online than by the tv and newspapers
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tickeli
29 Fans
07:05 PM on 03/17/2012
The Internet has levelled the playing fields of 'Eaton' a little.
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Weejoethebakerboy
16 Fans
07:22 PM on 03/17/2012
Totally agree thats what we are suffering for now. Time "Margaret" Cameron got the boot, before all that we as British workers, and all our fathers fought for is destroyed by this crazy man Osborne. There will be workers protests shortly when we realise just what is happening in our country, by this UNELECTED government, nobody voted for any of these policies they were hidden from us and it is all fuelled by Murdoch press. Bring on the revolution quick.
If we wanted US style society we would emigrate
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severus193to211
62 Fans
01:20 PM on 03/17/2012
It says a lot about the British. They consecutively voted for Thatcher, Blair and Cameron as their leaders. No wonder their leaders are doing everything to ensure they remain uneducated and have unlimited access to cheap booze and obesity enduced takeaways.
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eric14
1215 Fans
 
03:32 PM on 03/17/2012
It's the self-harming working-class Tories. They confuse everyone else. WTF are they doing?
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Gavin Saunders
we only have each other
960 Fans
12:51 PM on 03/17/2012
The Murdochs are a pestilence of corruption and deceit on this planet. This fraud who couldn't cut it in business through honest means, must have been feeling invincible all these years.

His galling tweet ,"Hope time heals"...... hope time wounds old heels!
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Sunshinesupit
12 Fans
10:22 PM on 03/17/2012
Shows how thick Labour voters are when they buy his cheap newspapers by the million.
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vividrick
I came, I saw...I had a cup of tea!
493 Fans
12:48 PM on 03/17/2012
Friends in high places, always a disturbing pattern.
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cavillas
4 Fans
12:15 PM on 03/17/2012
The traitors Thatcher and Murdoch coniving together, who would have thought it. :)
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
12:10 PM on 03/17/2012
Wow this news must only be 14 years out of date.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
redsquad
Shootin' from the lip
109 Fans
12:35 PM on 03/17/2012
Your many comments seem to suggest you held Thatcher up as some form of ideal to be worshipped by all... sorry that emerging news of her devious manipulating has you on the ropes apolgising for her.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
07:35 PM on 03/17/2012
The best Prime Minister we have had since Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, God Bless him, their Britishness will never be challenged by any other Prime Minister either Labour or Tory.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Matthew Harrold
Huzzah!
738 Fans
01:26 PM on 03/17/2012
Not really. It just goes to show that Thatcher is not the Conservative Saint that some paint her to be.
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Weejoethebakerboy
16 Fans
07:25 PM on 03/17/2012
She aint no saint ask the people in the north and Scotland we saw right through her
A she devil she was.......
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tickeli
29 Fans
11:45 AM on 03/17/2012
Thatcher has a lot to answer for, we are still feeling the effects of her selling the country's assets. She was a bad lot and suffered from the same syndrome Cameron has... Total division, isolation, ignorance and discrimination of class's.
The Conservatives should be known as the 'British Wealth for the Wealthy Party'.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
12:11 PM on 03/17/2012
She was the only person with the guts to stop the unions destroying the country, self self self was the union motto, they had no thought for the poor orless well off they fought for the might of the powerful only, look at their leaders wages.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
redsquad
Shootin' from the lip
109 Fans
12:30 PM on 03/17/2012
Well Thatcher must be bipolar, because she went to the other extreme and stripped worker's rights away & decimated our manufacturing industries.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
redsquad
Shootin' from the lip
109 Fans
12:37 PM on 03/17/2012
And your accusations of "self self self" against the Unions, in defence of a Tory hardliner who publicly stated there "was no such thing as society", are both shocking AND hilarious.
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StevenSmL
13 Fans
12:37 PM on 03/17/2012
They are all the same. Would you really hold Blair and Brown up as model PMs?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
redsquad
Shootin' from the lip
109 Fans
12:45 PM on 03/17/2012
As this article is about Thatcher, I wonder why you even brought them up (as someone always seems to in order to divert attention away from any Tory wrongdoing)
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