Cowley's commission confusion

An interesting spat seems to have broken out between the London Evening Standard's executive editor, Anne McElvoy, and the incoming New Statesman editor, Jason Cowley. McElvoy says she commissioned Cowley to write a feature on al-Qaida two years ago when he was boss of the Observer Sports Monthly, but had confused him for fellow Observer scribe Jason Burke, who had written a book on the terrorist organisation. Never one to shy away from a challenge, McElvoy says Cowley took up the commission even though he had no experience in the area. When McElvoy realised her mistake she got her assistant to ring him to stop the commission, sending him two vintage bottles of champagne to say sorry. "He took it in very good spirit," McElvoy says. However, Cowley doesn't recall the incident, saying his only dealing with McElvoy was writing a piece about countryside protests for her. The Independent calls him a "wally" for denying the incident. Who could be right?