Sir: There is more than enough wrong with Andrew Knight's
recent conduct to justify severe censure, and although journalists may prefer to treat the matter lightly — in some cases for reasons of professional prudence — I suspect that it is not nearly so much a laughing matter in City board- rooms or, more importantly, in City reg- ulatory bodies. Interesting as your views on Conrad Black's epistolary style may be, I really do wish that you had taken the contents of his correspondence more seriously.
I also wish that you had used your space to disabuse readers who may have thought that the profile of Knight in the Sunday Telegraph was due to proprietorial influ- ence. The profile was commissioned by me quite independently of Mr Black, who only showed us his exchange of letters with Mr Knight after the tone of the profile had already been determined.
What prompted its critical tone was a burning sense of grievance against Mr Knight for imposing on the Sunday Tele- graph a merger with the Daily Telegraph which has resulted in the break-up of a fine team of journalists, many of whom have now gone to our principal rivals, the Times and the Sunday Times. Throughout my close and intimate dealings with Mr Knight in the months before the merger, he led me to believe repeatedly that no such merger was envisaged. Other colleagues were simi- larly reassured. Thus, when the decision to merge was announced, we all felt bitterly disillusioned about Mr Knight's good faith; disillusion which would have been even greater if we had guessed at the time that Mr Knight was about to desert the ship that he had done so much to sink, and desert it, moreover, to take command of the enemy.
Yes, I admit to outrage. But that does not make the profile untruthful. Many a true word is spoken in outrage. Without outrage I would never have had the incen- tive to break with the inhibiting conven- tion, so beloved of Lord Rees-Mogg and others, of never calling an Establishment spade a spade. At least those who work on 'How mad would like your beef, Sir?' News International will now have been forewarned about the true character of their new boss. I wish somebody had had the motive to do the same for the former editor and staff of the Sunday Telegraph.
Peregrine Worsthorne
Sunday Telegraph, 181 Marsh Wall, London E14
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