A few months before he had written to Delargey stating that he "could not have foreseen that what I would have regarded as conventional Catholic journalism would have caused such public differences of opinion, emotion and even intense bitterness.

"[4] Booth returned to work for The Auckland Star, and covered the Mr Asia drug syndicate and the Arthur Allan Thomas cases.

[5] In 1979, Arthur Allan Thomas was pardoned,[2] and, two years later, in the 1981 Queen's Birthday Honours, Booth was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to journalism.

Later he worked for North and South magazine, winning the 1988 Media Peace Prize for his article "Learning To Live With The Waitangi Tribunal – Facts Without Fear.

"[2] He later worked for Suburban Newspapers Auckland, a Fairfax subsidiary, where he ran a controversial series on Asian immigration to New Zealand.