Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby offered to work on a campaign to cancel the 2022 Qatar World Cup and "get it awarded to another country" in return for £5.5M, according to Jim Waterson of the London GUARDIAN. His offer was revealed in a "leaked plan that gives a rare insight into the activities of one of the world’s best-known political operatives." The detailed pitch document -- "a proposal for a campaign to expose the truth of the Qatar regime and bring about the termination of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar" -- was written in April '18 and personally signed by Crosby. He said that if engaged, his lobbying firm, CTF Partners, would require £300,000 a month for 18 months to focus on efforts to delegitimize the Qatari government and "put pressure on" FIFA to "restart the bidding process" and award the World Cup to another country. As part of the pitch document, named "Project Ball," Crosby said that CTF Partners could set up "full-time war rooms around the world to spread negative stories about Qatar in the mainstream media," run fake grassroots campaigns on social media, and "lobby potentially friendly politicians, journalists and academics." The pitch offers a glimpse into the "secretive services offered" by Crosby. He is close to former U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who has repeatedly described Crosby’s use of the "dead cat" media strategy to distract journalists. Crosby’s potential client for Project Ball was a "self-styled Qatari opposition leader based in London named Khalid Al-Hail," who says he fled the Gulf country after being detained and tortured. Crosby’s lawyers said that no contract with Al-Hail "was ever entered into and none of the work outlined in the proposal was undertaken." They insisted that the proposed work was "hardly controversial" given widespread criticism of the Qatar World Cup bid and human rights in the Gulf country (GUARDIAN, 2/10).
