Scruffy geezers doing Dan Dare stuff. South American chess correspondents. Talking drums with Tony Blair.
Welcome to the world according to Richard Desmond – a man with a self-confessed poor grasp of ethics but a sharp eye on the bottom line. And for free publicity. Asked if cost cutting had undermined standards at Daily Star we were treated to gushing tribute to the "fantastic product" that the readers "can't get enough of".
Except it seems they can. Newspaper circulations are "static" and "non-growth businesses", he confessed a bluster or three later. But, seemingly basking in his increasing incoherence, he left Leveson in no doubt why he graces the newspaper industry with his presence – making money.
Neither was Fleet Street's great outsider here to make peace. With bum barely on seat, Desmond had ever-so-accidentally called the Daily Mail the "Daily Malicious".
Before long he was comparing his notoriously cheerful Daily Express with the "negative and disgusting" Mail.
A Robert Jay QC slip, referring to Desmond as Dacre, left room for a shot at goal. "I'm Desmond. Dacre's the fat butcher." Or can we just start calling him RCD?
