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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Jamie Grierson

Kerry Packer was proposed as mediator in Thatcher’s fight to stop Spycatcher memoir

Kerry Packer at a World Series Cricket press conference in London in 1977
Kerry Packer at a World Series Cricket press conference in London in 1977. Photograph: PA/PA Archive/PA Images

The Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer was suggested as a mediator in the fight by Margaret Thatcher’s government to prevent the publication of Spycatcher, the memoirs of former MI5 officer Peter Wright, according to newly released official papers.

The offer was made by Wright’s Australian counsel – and future Australian prime minister – Malcolm Turnbull as part of a proposed out-of-court settlement, files released by the National Archives show.

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