The press release mentions a "departure lounge" at Stansted. Obviously there are no OW partners there, so I presume this will take the form of passes to one of the many contract lounges.

Whats the betting that this has come about through a number of corporate clients venting an extreme displeasure for LHR and wanting an alternative from NYC?

Good call on the DFW split I think, although I'm not exactly convinced it was through choice.

The earlier flight will connect nicely with a LOT of traffic through LHR, the 2nd flight gets in too late to connect exceptionally well anyway (both ends).