Rupert Murdoch lobbied Thatcher on Times takeover in 1981 according to latest files released

[PaddyJoe]

Murdoch has always claimed that he had no direct contact with Thatcher prior to his take over of the Times in 1981.

A secret meeting between Rupert Murdoch and Margaret Thatcher cleared the way for News International to buy the Times and Sunday Times in 1981, Thatcher's private files reveal.
A long note – marked by her press secretary, Bernard Ingham, as "commercial in confidence" – of the Sunday lunch at Chequers on 4 January, three weeks before the first cabinet committee discussion of the Murdoch takeover, shows the meeting was held at his request.
Thatcher gave the meeting no publicity and instructed that the note should not leave No 10 Downing Street; the media tycoon later gave the impression in the newspaper's own history that he had no contact with the prime minister ahead of Conservative approval of the purchase.

Interesting to see the parallel with his attempted take over of BSkyB 30 years later.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012...garet-thatcher

[PaddyJoe]

Bernard Ingham's file. It seems very strange to see typed memos and handwritten notes these days
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/inte...eeting-letters
Wasn't the 'Yes, Prime Minister' civil servant character supposedly based on Ingham?

[Holly]

The Times was a most prestigious title, so easy to read with a typeface that has given its name to the font, perfectly typeset, worldwide correspondents, and now a handy compact size as well as being the best value for money than any English quality newspaper at 90 cents an issue.
Unfortunately, it is less reliable and more right-wing since the News International takeover.

[C. Flower]

Murdoch's influence on the British media was in parallel with Thatcher's, a thoroughly backward one.