MEDIA STUDIES
Cunning Mr Robinson spreads confusion, but the press will confound him
STEPHEN GLOVER
Geoffrey Robinson, the Paymaster General, would not be in such a fix were it not for a reporter called Chris Blackhurst and the Independent on Sunday. Although he is now threatening to sue the Observer and the Sunday Times, it was the `Sindie' that started it all with a front-page story on 30 November. Mr Blackhurst and a col- league called Patrick Masters had trawled through the Register of Members' Inter- ests, records in Companies House and the affairs of TransTec, the public company in which Mr Robinson has a large interest.
It was the Sindie which found out about Orion Trust, the Guernsey-based tax haven of which Mr Robinson has been described, in the rather slippery terminology of lawyers, as a 'discretionary beneficiary'. On Friday 28 November, before publishing the story, Mr Blackhurst telephoned Mr Robinson at the Treasury, where the minis- ter is responsible for the nation's taxes. Mr Robinson, who was said to be unavailable, later telephoned Rosie Boycott, the Sindie's editor, who had fortunately been briefed by Mr Blackhurst. She persuaded Mr Robinson that it would be a good idea to speak to Mr Blackhurst, which he then did. It became clear to him that the Sindie had correct information and was deter- mined to publish. Shortly before the Independent on Sun- day's first edition deadline on the evening of Saturday the 29th, Mr Robinson put out a statement via the Press Association emphasising the legality of Orion Trust. He also disclosed that the trust had originally been set up for the benefit of his family by a wealthy Belgian friend called Joska Bour- geois. As a result of this statement, the Observer also took up the story, which it 'splashed' on its front page, at any rate in later editions. But it was the Independent on Sunday's diligent research that has provid- ed the government's greatest embarrass- ment since assuming power. Why the paper did not attempt to build on its scoop last Sunday is a bit of a conundrum. Mr Robinson's behaviour before the publication of the story shows how deter- mined he was to fight back. His reaction was similarly robust after the Observer and the Sunday Times published two unrelated stories about his tax affairs last Sunday. His solicitors, Titmuss Sainer Dechert, sent let- ters to both papers. These letters assumed the tone of a very pedantic and superior sort of don rebuking a very dim undergrad- uate who has totally got the wrong end of the stick. They are frankly incomprehensi- ble to the layman. It might be a little too cynical to suggest that they were actually calculated to sow confusion, but they were certainly not written by someone whose pri- mary aim was to enlighten the world. The letter to the Sunday Times, which had made separate allegations about offshore trusts in Bermuda, may be the more threatening. It is possible that some of the paper's allega- tions, which refer to Mr Robinson's sup- posed activities six years ago, were wider off the mark.
Several important things stick out in this story. From a journalistic point of view, it is interesting that Sunday papers have made all the running. The dailies have taken up the baton but they have barely developed what the Sundays have written. There could be no better justification of Sunday journal- ism and the practice, much criticised these days, of having a number of journalists with their minds on producing one issue a week. After the Sindie's original scoop on 30 November, any of the dailies could, in theo- ry, have taken the story further. But they were in effect too busy reporting what had already been reported, and commenting upon it. It took the Sunday Times and the Observer to move things further the follow- ing Sunday, the Observer's story being a development of what had appeared in the Sindie the previous week.
The Observer's conduct gives a clue as to its probable future attitude towards this government. Mr Robinson seems to have been stung almost as much by the paper's editorial, written by its editor, Will Hutton, as by its front-page story. Dear old Will can be a bit waffly at times but on this occasion he had sharpened his quill and dipped it in acid. The very headline, 'Robinson shames our democracy', was enough to make the socialist multimillionaire long for the cool- ing balm that can only be applied by Tit- 'Steer clear of the oxtail soup.' muss Sainer Dechert. I expect that more and more we will see the Observer attacking this government from the Left with some- thing close to hatred. Whether its sister paper the Guardian will join it in this assault remains to be seen. Interestingly, it has been milder in its censure of Mr Robin- son than Mr Hutton's Observer.
The Observer is not going to let up as a result of Mr Robinson's threats. I am sure that the same can be said of the Sunday Times, which is moving on Mr Robinson from the Right. I don't know what else the papers have got in their locker for this Sun- day, but the effect of his threats will be to make both of them, and possibly others, redouble their efforts to nail him. The press, both of Left and Right, promises to offer the most effective opposition to this government. We surely haven't heard the end of this story yet. I am particularly look- ing forward to seeing how Mr Robinson's New Statesman magazine develops it. Most of all I am struck by the cunning belligerence of Mr Robinson, and indeed of the government as a whole. He hectored the Independent on Sunday, and then tried to draw the teeth of its story with his state- ment to the Press Association. He then threatened the Sunday Times and the Observer, and succeeded in confusing every- one except the most brilliant tax expert. Tony Blair jumped to Mr Robinson's defence with equal determination and guile, even pulling out of the hat the fact that Mr Robinson, out of the goodness of his heart, does not draw a ministerial salary. It is all very impressive, but amid the clamour of gunfire it is worth remembering this simple fact: you do not set up trusts in Guernsey, or transfer money into trusts held in Guernsey, unless your object is to avoid paying tax.
Awe go to press, with sub-editors fly- ing all around me, the Guardian has at last published a shortened version of the report of its ombudsman, John Willis, into the Victoria Brittain affair. My immediate impression is that Mr Willis has not been rigorous enough. However, he concludes: 'I hope she learns from this experience and recognises that she has behaved commend- ably as a friend [to Kojo Tsikata] but inap- propriately as a senior journalist.' When I have read Mr Willis's full report I shall return to the matter.
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