Phone call made on July 16, 2018
Sir Philip: ‘Your girl has been running about all over the f****** place and I can give you a list of a lot of the people she’s called on, and she’s found f*** all. Nothing. Zero.’
Telegraph Reporter Daniel Foggo: ‘Well she has found something. She’s found the items I’m putting to you now.’
PG: ‘She’s found zero, okay?’
DF: ‘There’s been these very, very expensive payouts to people who have made claims against you of sexual and racial discrimination…’
PG: ‘And who says these people, who did make these claims, who said they’re correct?’
DF: ‘Well, we are looking to publish an article.’
PG: ‘Well, I’ll see you in court then.’ (Laughing)
Call made on July 17, 2018
DF has asked Sir Philip to respond by 2pm the next day (Wednesday).
PG: ‘Listen, we don’t need to have an unnecessarily ugly punch-up do we. There’s a lot of stuff in your email. So tell your editor to get intelligent. We need a couple of days and we will respond fully to your email. What’s your guy’s rush? What difference is one day going to make? You’re making statements about me personally and about Arcadia. There are accusations in there that could be very, very, very damaging.’
Second call made on July 17
PG: ‘Take this message back to your editor, please, so we don’t have to have a punch-up. I will personally sue your editor for damages that will be long beyond what he’ll be able to earn if he lived to 1,000 years old. Get smart. I told you, you’re making very damaging allegations – 30,000, 25-30,000 people involved, there’s millions of customers involved, and if you damage the business he’s going to need a new job. And your paper might end up bankrupt as well. He’s rude, you’re being polite, tell him just to get some manners. I will have pleasure in bankrupting him.’
PG: ‘Tell your editor I don’t want to waste a load of his money, my money, or anybody else’s money applying for an injunction. You’re not going tomorrow unless we’re ready. Let’s be clear. We’ll try for tomorrow but it’s not likely to be all done until Thursday.’
DF: ‘To be fair, it’s the paper’s decision when we choose to publish. We don’t have to have permission from people.’
PG: ‘Do you want me to go seek an injunction? I’m happy to do it. I’ve got one against the Government and I’ll get one against you. What’s your editor’s f****** rush, is he going on holiday? I don’t really give a f*** about your editor, how about that? Just tell your editor get smart or we’re just all going to waste a load of money for no reason. We’re not running away, we’re going to respond to your email in detail. If you believe you’re going to be able to publish tomorrow, you’re living in a dream land.’
Third call made on July 17
PG: ‘Am I your new best friend?’
DF: ‘I don’t know about that but I have put what you said to the editor about Thursday 2pm and he’s agreed to that now.’ Sir Philip: ‘That wasn’t too complicated, was it?’