O'Rileys assertion was that BA failed miserably in the loco market when forced to compete on a level playing field. The reality is that when BA went in on a level playing field with Go they did very well. The fact that the chose to divest themselves of the business and the sale price they achieved is irrelevant to his assertion.
As I recall, BA wanted to divest itself of GO because it became a sucessful competitor against BA. I think they called it something like "diluting the brand".
What they did offer the flying public was a choice. Indifferent BA service at BA prices or Indifferent BA service at LoCo prices. Guess which they prefered.
Air Lib and DBA was just BA's attempt to play on someone elses turf.