A scoop by undercover Mirror reporters at the G8 conference was
finally published this week after being temporarily spiked because of
the London bombings.
Mirror trainee Ann Gripper got a job at
Gleneagles four months before the summit and was joined by fellow
trainee Nikhita Mahajan three months later.
Their scoop about
security lapses was set to be the Daily Mirror splash on 8 July, but
the 7 July bombings forced a change of plan. This week the Scottish
Daily Mirror splashed on the story and followed it with two more days
of exclusives.
The pair revealed that George Bush cracks crass
jokes; that two bottles of wine, costing more than £2,000, were
delivered to Tony Blair’s room; and that Gerhard Schroeder got through
three bottles of wine during one meal.
Gripper said: “Despite the
bare-faced lies that had got me the job, I was never once outed as a
fraud. Instead, I was granted access to each and every inch of the
luxury complex.
“Had I been a terrorist, the freedom I enjoyed would have been like leaving a kid alone in the sweetie shop.”
Mahajan
said: “In the evenings, the staff bar would buzz with excitement as
people talked about who they’d spotted, served or cooked for.
“In the mornings room service staff came back with stories about Blair in his slippers and Chirac in his dressing gown.
“We discovered who eats what, who eats with their wife, who eats alone. Who eats loads. And who’s a waster!”
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