The International Campaign for Real History

Posted Friday, April 30, 2004

[] Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech
[] Alphabetical index (text)
AR-Online

Quick navigation

The disquiet subsequently deepened when it emerged he had donated £100,000 to Labour Party coffers eight days later.

 


Sydney, Australia, Thursday, April 29, 2004

Porn king's antics lose friends

By Jonathan Este

Richard DesmondON Fleet Street they call him "Dirty" Desmond. He's the pornographer turned press baron who owns the Express newspaper group and OK! magazine and until recently was considered a player for the takeover of the Telegraph Group.

But since his performance late last week, when he treated Telegraph executives to a tirade of abuse, culminating in he and his executives singing Deutschland Uber Alles while he goosestepped around the office, Basil Fawlty-style, giving the Nazi salute, he is fast being given the soubriquet, "Deranged" Desmond.

No one has quite fathomed what prompted the outburst, which happened last Thursday when Richard Desmond and a group of his senior executives were in a meeting with Telegraph chief executive Jeremy Deedes and a group of his senior managers.

Asked by BBC Radio about Desmond's reported description of him as a "miserable piece of excrement," Deedes said: "I would say it was a bit stronger than that -- I do not think there was a swear word in the English language that wasn't used at any stage."

Richard DesmondDesmond is said to be stung at the failure of his £500 million ($1.22 billion) bid to buy the Telegraph Group, which has been in play since the present owner, Hollinger International, became embroiled in financial strife surrounding the business dealings of its major shareholder, Conrad Black. The most likely buyer at present is thought to be Berlin-based newspaper group, Axel Springer (owner of Bild newspaper). This is what is thought to have prompted Desmond to ask the Telegraph executives, according to Deedes: "How did we fancy being taken over by a lot of effing Nazis."

"It became quite clear after a few minutes that this was not going to be a productive meeting and, after taking a four-minute volley of abuse, which included an offer from Mr Desmond that I should step outside, I suggested that the moment had come for us to leave." Which was when Desmond launched into his Hitler impression.

Desmond made his money in a magazine empire whose titles included Asian Babes, Big Ones and Readers' Wives. He had immediate, and considerable, success with the launch in 1993 of OK! magazine, a shameless copy of lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous bible, Hello!, which rode the British obsession with celebrity and overtook Hello! within seven years.

At about the same time, with the backing, ironically, of German-based Commerzbank, he bought the Express titles, which included the Daily Express and Sunday Express and the Daily Star for a reported £125 million. While the Express has struggled in the fiercely competitive British market, the Star and Daily Star Sunday, which he launched, have been among the best performers in the past year bucking the downward trend in readership.

Given his background there was considerable disquiet among Labour backbenchers when Desmond was given the go-ahead to buy the Express Group by Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers in early 2001. The disquiet subsequently deepened when it emerged he had donated £100,000 to Labour Party coffers eight days later. This disquiet turned to hilarity with last Friday's shenanigans. Just 24 hours earlier, Desmond's papers announced on front pages and in editorials they were switching their political allegiances to the Tory Party.

Desmond had famously shouted at Tory leader, Michael Howard, at a private lunch last year that: "The problem with the f---ing Tories is that you're f---ing f---ed." Given their owner's lack of control, the support of Desmond's papers is unlikely to do much to alleviate that problem.

 

Richard Desmond calls Daily Telegraph Nazi, brands Telegraph chief executive Jeremy Deedes a 'miserable piece of shit' and said Germans were 'all Nazis'

The above item is reproduced without editing other than typographical

 Register your name and address to go on the Mailing List to receive

David Irving's ACTION REPORT

or to hear when and where he will next speak near you

© Focal Point 2004 F Irving write to David Irving