Oh for the love of cheeses!
CM sponsored GBG - agreed.
CM had an influence on what appeared in print? - erm, well, sort of - AFAIK CM simply supplied the details of those pubs **already chosen to be in GBG by the local CAMRA branch** which had also paid up to their scheme and passed regular technical examinations of their beer and cellar. Then CAMRA printed a little symbol next to the pub denoting its CM accreditation. What's the problem?
There is, I hope you'll agree, no guarantee of GBG acceptance due to having paid up to CM - several CM-accredited, non-GBG-listed 'Spoons & others would disprove that I would have thought? MikeMcG