Haughey ‘error’ huge publicity boost for book

If controversy is the best publicity, then Anne Chamber’s upcoming book on TK Whitaker has got off to a good start — thanks in no small part to Charles Haughey.

Last Saturday, it was reported that Ms Chamber’s new book on Dr Whitaker — TK Whitaker: Portrait of a Patriot — included a claim that Haughey’s no-show for a budget speech in 1970 was due to his being badly beaten that morning by an assailant(s) wielding an iron bar.

The claim was attributed to Dr Whitaker. Subsequently, the Haughey family released a statement saying the account of how the then finance minister had sustained his injuries was “patently untrue”. Haughey’s injuries were due to a fall from a horse they said.