Cameron lobbied by HP
HEWLETT Packard lobbied David Cameron and George Osborne in a public relations blitz to discredit technology entrepreneur Mike Lynch, a court heard.
The ‘aggressive’ strategy was launched after HP realised its takeover of British software firm Autonomy was a disaster and wrote off most of its value, according to Lynch’s lawyers.
Autonomy was founded by Lynch, 53, in 1996 and sold to HP for £8.5bn in 2011. A year later, HP said it had uncovered accounting ‘irregularities’ and accused Lynch and others of overseeing a massive fraud to inflate its value.
Yesterday, Lynch’s lawyers said an HP smear campaign tried to cover up its own mismanagement of Autonomy and protect then-HP boss Meg Whitman.
In the High Court, where Lynch is fighting HP in the UK’s biggest-ever fraud trial, Robert Miles QC said HP called former prime minister Cameron to ‘make sure they got their oar in first’, as part of an ‘aggressive and co-ordinated press campaign’ against the entrepreneur.
Miles said an HP document detailed a strategy to minimise negative news coverage. It named other top politicians, including then-Chancellor Osborne, and Philip Hammond, who is now Chancellor.
Lynch denies fraud. The trial continues.