Harold Musgrove had worked in various roles at British Leyland and its predecessor Austin before being offered the role of Chairman of the volume car business Austin Rover in 1982 after the departure of Sir Michael Edwardes, reporting to Roy Horrocks, the chairman of British Leyland's new formed car group.
[2][3] One of his first jobs was to negotiate the contract with Honda over the XX agreement, which would eventually become the Rover 800, and had to deal with the Trojan Horse political potato that had occurred with BL's previous collaboration, the Triumph Acclaim.
[5] Due to the drop in performance of Austin Rover in 1984,[6] Harold Musgrove was asked by the British Government, which had held a controlling stake in the business since 1975, to look for savings.
[8] Due to the press anger caused by this and the Westland sale, British Leyland's management was changed by the government bringing in Graham Day in 1986 to oversee the new business.
[citation needed] However a University College London report in 2000 stated that the reforms left Worcestershire with "one of the lowest levels of hospital provision in the country".