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MEDIA INFLUENCE Thursday 22nd June 1967 This was probably when Tim Eiloart sent me a Bankers Order for £60/month, which I returned. I understand that was the dole rate at that time. Sunday 25th June 1967
Tuesday 27th June 1967 I was still receiving Minutes of CCL and AIM meetings, from which I noticed that some misleading statements were being made about matters I had been concerned with at CCL. I had a standing invitation to attend Board meetings so I decided to attend the one taking place at Pergamon's H.Q. in June 1967 to protect my good name if need be and to see if Robert Maxwell referred to my request to see him. In the event no matter came up on which I felt I had to intervene and Robert Maxwell, although well-disposed towards me as before, made no reference to my request. It was interesting to note how at the Board meeting Tim Eiloart got another £10,000 or so out of Robert Maxwell. The campaign was won on the strength of the item which had appeared in the previous weekend's Sunday Times. The Sunday Times article points to the fact that someone other than Robert Maxwell was assisting CCL. For a Company with fewer than 30 staff and less than £100,000 turnover they were remarkably influential. The BBC programme side, various newspapers, NRDC, Board of Trade, ICFC, McKinsey, NPL, Design Centre, Russian Trade Delegation and the Central Office of Information were among the organisations etc. with which CCL were in contact. What was remarkable was the coverage CCL had obtained on national T.V., radio and press and the extensive free reporting of their activities in the technical press. They knew some potentially influential people too - for example, I was introduced by Tim Eiloart to Peter Parker, at the time he was prospective Chairman of British Railways. I wrote to Tim Eiloart after the meeting but I cannot find a copy of the letter nor of his reply of 11th July. Thursday 3rd August 1967 John Dunworth gives me a thought-provoking VIP tour of the NPL I met H.A. Gebbie during the VIP visit to NPL - this was when he expressed regret if he had caused me any embarrassment over CCL at the IEE meeting on Modular Construction back in January 1967. Some time during the day I told John Dunworth that I had been trying to get to see Robert Maxwell on a one-to-one basis. He responded that he and his wife were entertaining the Maxwells to dinner in a few days time and he would mention my request. John Dunworth was being very helpful - was it off his own bat or was someone influencing him? As already reported, in 1991 I discovered from Who's Who that the 2nd Lord Nelson of Stafford had been on the General Board of NPL from 1959 to 1966, which may or may not be relevant.
MEETING WITH ROBERT MAXWELL Friday 11th August 1967 I received a letter from John Dunworth saying that on Tuesday 8th he had mentioned to Robert Maxwell that I wished to see him and that if I did not hear soon I should write to Robert Maxwell again, using John Dunworth's name. Thursday 17th August 1967 On the basis agreed with John Dunworth I wrote again to Mr. Maxwell.
Dear Mr. Maxwell,
I would very much appreciate an opportunity of exchanging
views with you on Cambridge Consultants, Ltd.
John Dunworth has suggested I should write to you about this and I
very much hope you will be able to see me.
CCL is well worth supporting but I fear there are some
disturbing aspects in its operations and some action is needed to improve
the situation. If you would like
my advice on this, I would be very happy to give it.
For my part, I am in rather a difficult position due to a
great extent to my association with CCL
The most effective way I can find of resolving this is to state the
situation as I see it to those in any way concerned and receive
corresponding information in return.
I very much hope you will give me an opportunity of doing this.
I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Tuesday 22nd August 1967 I received a phone call from Robert Maxwell’s secretary giving me an appointment to see him on 31st August. Was it a coincidence that I also received a call from a Mr. M. Stanley asking if he could come and see me? He had been an engineer while I was at M.I. but he had left to become a Field Engineer with Hewlett Packard. I told him that he was unlikely to sell me any instruments and he responded that he hoped to sell some to a company that I was interested in - Cambridge Consultants, Ltd. I told him I no longer had any connection with CCL. Despite these two disincentives Mr. Stanley seemed very anxious to see me so I agreed to see him on 25th August for a general talk about the instrumentation field. Friday 25th August 1967 Mr. Stanley called on me as arranged. He proceeded to go through the hp catalogue, going into great detail on each instrument and pointing out how sophisticated they were. After an hour I had had enough and said I had to go out. After that the conversation was more relaxed - he told me of hp's adverse views of M.I.'s advertisements and also that he got around to various companies and if I wanted any messages taken or any information obtained from a particular place, I had only to let him know. In the course of conversation he also referred to "my friends in CCL" and introduced other topics which made me suspect he was acting as an intermediary - as he had offered to be for me. My guess is that he was sent to find out my feelings for and to 'sell' CCL in preparation for my meeting with R. Maxwell. I could be wrong - but it is worth noting that a few months later, Mr. Stanley left hp and joined CCL on the marketing side of AIM Electronics, becoming after a while the marketing director of AIM. Thursday 31st August 1967 At 5.30 pm I went to Pergamon's H.Q. at 4 Fitzroy Square for my meeting with Robert Maxwell. His secretary showed me into his outer office where I waited for half an hour while Robert Maxwell, with the door to his office wide open so that I could hear all that was going on, dealt with such matters as sending the car for Mrs. Maxwell to go to dinner with a very important person, and taking care of various other matters which gave me a good idea of the perks of being rich, powerful and influential. His secretary departed at 6 p.m. and soon afterwards Robert Maxwell came to the door of his office and invited me in. As I passed him in the doorway he gave me a friendly clap round my shoulders and said "Well - and how are you standing up to the strain?", which reminded me of Doug Willis's comment just before I left M.I. that all of the happenings there had been designed to see if I could maintain role under stress. Originally I had asked for a quarter of an hour of his time but in fact I was in Robert Maxwell's office for the best part of an hour. However, most of the time was taken up with his telephoning the Editors of various newspapers and advising them what line to take with a report of the House of Commons Catering Committee. He had chaired the Committee and its Report had been adopted that day and was about to be published. Clearly, in view of Tim Eiloart's remarks back in May about the experience of Michael Richardson of B.E.E.Co., preventing people from getting a word in edgeways was a technique used by Maxwell. However, I managed to tell him that contrary to the false impression being given that I had joined CCL I had no wish to do so. I was also able to show him a letter about the untrue announcement of my appointment as a director and to tell him I had been falsely minuted as present at the inaugural Board meeting of AIM Electronics. The only response I got from him was raised eyebrows at the reference in a letter from Tim Eiloart about Mr. Wedgewood Benn's interest in Computer Technology Limited.
I have an idea that up to this point everything in the interview had been 'stage-managed' by Robert Maxwell, including the enticing business overheard in the outer office. As I was going out of the door, however, I injected an unexpected note. Mindful of my principal objective in asking to see him, namely finding out who was influencing CCL, I asked him if he knew Lord Nelson of Stafford. He said he did, very well indeed. I asked him if he would get in touch with Lord Nelson on my behalf and arrange a meeting. He said he would have to think about it. On that note we parted. Monday 11th September 1967 I wrote to Robert Maxwell again about a meeting with Lord Nelson.
Dear Mr. Maxwe1l,
Thank you for seeing me the other day and for listening
so patiently, if intermittently!
I wish there had been more time, for there are some other points
which would bear examination - B.E.E.Co. for example and Charterhouse.
I feel we barely scratched the surface but perhaps we wouldn't like
what we found underneath anyway.
With regard to putting something to CCL, I would like to
reserve this for some possible future occasion but meanwhile, I suggest
you keep a very watchful eye on the situation.
CCL is quite a small Company but from the strength and nature of
the pressures put upon me to join, it has clearly acquired an influence
very much greater than one would expect.
If the present position of the Company can be consolidated on
normal business lines it should prove a sound investment but in my view,
to continue on the present basis could prove embarrassing - possibly to
yourself, as it has been to
me.
I am most anxious to meet Lord Nelson to try and get some
sense into this well-nigh
impossible situation. Could
you help bring about such a meeting or at least help forge some reliable
channel of communication, free from spurious “information”?
I would be very grateful indeed if you would.
Yours sincerely, I heard nothing for a long time. CCL continued sending papers to me. Eventually they dried up, except for “Interface”. I finally wrote to Gordon Edge asking him to remove my name from the circulation list. At the same time, to show there was nothing personal, I wrote to Gordon Edge at his private address giving some information he had asked for on a book. That you might think, would put an end to attempts to involve me in CCL. But you would be wrong. Wednesday 18th October 1967 I start a campaign to let Marconi and E.E. executives know what had been happening. Details of the campaign and of its outcomes are described in the Political Developments section. Wednesday 22nd November 1967 I have no doubt that one outcome of the campaign relevant to this CCL Section is that I received a letter from Robert Maxwell, which seemed to me rather contrite.
Monday 4th December 1967 There occurred this day the English Electric Valve Co. approach. |
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The
Sunday Times carried an article about CCL and Tim Eiloart. It referred to
blue-chip Companies beating a path to CCL's door but nothing could be
further from the truth. A previous statement along similar lines had
caused one of the large companies named to make enquiries as to the
services actually obtained. It turned out that CCL had repaired an item
of equipment for one of the outlying factories. The same went for
projects; pie in the sky schemes were presented as accomplished fact.
