House of Commons - Standards and Privileges

Select Committee on Standards and Privileges First Report

APPENDIX 33

References to Appendices Nos. 1-7 within this submission refer to the Appendices to Mr Hamilton's submission.

Submission to Sir Gordon Downey by Neil Hamilton MP

"For 30 years I have done business in the City. Show me one man who has doubted my word:" (Mohamed Fayed quoted in the Daily Mirror 21 October 1994)

"The Fayeds are found to have lied about their origins again and again; they produce birth certificates they knew to be false. Above all they lied about their wealth . . . inspectors need extra resources if they are to check out cock-and-bull stories of the Al-Fayed variety . . . It is a question of deceit and its rewards . . . The Fayeds' dishonest acquisition of Harrods . . . must rank as one of the biggest financial rip-offs of the century."
(Editorials from The Guardian, edited by Peter Preston, 8 and 9 March 1990).

"There is simply no question of The Guardian in October 1994 `rehabilitating' Mr Al-Fayed or `forgetting' what it had published about him 4 years previously:"
(Peter Preston Witness statement 26 June 1995).

"the lies of Mohamed Fayed and his success in `gagging' the Press created new fact: that lies were the truth and that the truth was a lie:"
(DTI Inspectors' Report 1990 paragraph 8.6.6).

CONTENTS

Introduction

Paras
CHAPTER 1: MOHAMED FAYED'S ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ME	1-50
Fayed the inventor of the "Cash for Questions" hoax, The Guardian his enthusiastic accomplice	5-8
Fayed and The Guardian bad faith revealed
Prejudicial publicity surrounding Channel 4"Dispatches" and The Guardian's book "Sleaze"	8-25
Fayed the sole source of the "Cash for Questions" hoax	26-30
Fayed an inveterate liar	31-33
Fayed's base motives	34-35
Fayed's malicious and vengeful character	36-41
Christoph Bettermann - a suitable case for the Fayed treatment	42-50
CHAPTER 2: FAYED'S ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HAMILTON AND GREER	51-132
(A) FAYED'S FIRST SET OF ALLEGATIONS	51-52
The Guardian 20 October 1994 - Cash for Questions
(B) FAYED'S SECOND SET OF ALLEGATIONS	53-62
The Guardian's Defence 14 December 1994 - the three cheques	53-54
Michael Cole contradicts Fayed's account	55-56
Three basic falsehoods	57-62
(1) No £50,000 fee	57
(2) The three cheques	58
Royston Webb confirms no improper payments to Gree	59
(3) The allegation of £2,000 per Question for 17 Questions	60-62
(C) FAYED'S THIRD SET OF ALLEGATIONS	63-132
Direct cash payments	63-64
Fayed the soft touch	65-72
Fayed changes his evidence	73-79
Fayed's predilection for cash	80-83
The cheques for £12,000 and £6,000	84-85
The cheque for £13,333	85-86
Fayed's story confused and confusing
Who paid what to whom?	87-88
Fayed attempts to square the payments circle	89-104
Comparison of Smith and Hamilton's Parliamentary Activity (including tables of analysis)	99
Fayed's selective amnesia	105-109
The gift vouchers	110-132
Hencke and Preston - gaps in the memory	110-118
Michael Cole the media manipulator	119-122
Can Fayed vouch for the vouchers? - further inconsistencies	123-127
The forgotten witness - Timothy O'Sullivan	128-132
(D) FAYED'S FOURTH SET OF ALLEGATIONS	133-158
Fayed's last minute employee-witnesses
The Guardian's draft amended Defence	133-135
(A) The security guard - Philip Bromfield	136-143
(B) The secretary and the personal assistant Iris Bond and Alison Bozek	144-146
(a) Addresses of the invoices
(b) £5,000 bundles or £2,500 - Bond contradicts Fayed
(c) New allegations of £5,000 cash per quarter for
(d) Greer's alleged telephone calls asking for cash
(e) Bond and Bozek disagree - where was Greer's cash delivered?
(f) Why would Fayed do the stuffing?
(g) Greer more memorable than Hamilton
(h) Bond/Bozek inconsistencies - the cash totals
(i) A blizzard of cash. How many payments?
(j) The Ritz cash advance, Tricks of memory
Bozek's previous lies	147
Why were these employees two years late in coming forward?	148-150
Fayed the amnesiac	151
Compendium of Fayed's allegations	152-153
Two obvious questions	154
Other obvious questions Hencke never asked	155-157
Rusbridger blows the gaff	158
CHAPTER 3: THE BACKGROUND TO FAYED'S LIES	159-180
Fayed's introduction to Greer	160-161
Fayed and Greer - who approached whom?	162
MPs for "rent" or for "hire"	163-171
Why target Grylls, Hamilton and Smith?	172-180
CHAPTER 4: THE ROLE OF The Guardian	181-237
Peter Preston takes dictation from Fayed	181-186
The strange case of the missing cash payments	187
Hencke's interviews July 1993 - confusion of memory	188-193
My letter to Preston September 1993	194-199
The Guardian castigates Fayed as an incorrigible liar	200-202
Peter Preston the willing dupe	203-206
Preston's introduction to Fayed	207-209
Preston is not convinced by all Fayed told him	210-213
Two lies not printed by The Guardian	214-215
Peter Preston's failure to take adequate notes	216-219
The Guardian's documentary "proof" proves nothing	220-221
Hencke puts the words in Fayed's mouth	222-225
The Guardian ambush me and lie about it afterwards	226-229
Recent examples of Guardian bad faith: "Dispatches" and "Sleaze"	230-237
CHAPTER 5: CHRONOLOGY OF FAYED'S WOOING OF THE PRESS	238-291
Peter Preston and The Guardian - June 1993	238-242
Fayed's contacts with The Sunday Times	243-251
Brian Hitchen and The Sunday Express	252-253
Fayed's letter of congratulation	253(2)
Fayed's meeting with Ian Greer on 22 September 1994	254-259
Fayed's motives	259-291
Conversations with Brian Hitchen	260-263
Hitchen's meeting with the Prime Minister 30 September 1994	264-265
Conversations with Peter Preston	266-267
Revelations since October 20 1994 of Fayed's motives	268-273
Scrupulous conduct as Corporate Affairs Minister	274-291
CHAPTER 6: FAYED'S CONDUCT ANALYSED ACCORDING TO DTI INSPECTORS' CRITICISMS	292-361
1. FAYED LIED	295-298
(a) Witness Statement 23 June 1995	295
(b) Guardian article 20 October 1994	296
(c) Fayed lies told to other newspapers	297
(d) Fayed lies told to Preston and Hencke	298
2. FAYED PRODUCED FORGED DOCUMENTS	299-303
3. FAYED LIED TO PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS AND OFFICIAL AGENCIES	304-308
4. FAYED LIED TO THE PRESS	309
5. FAYED PRONE TO EXAGGERATION	310-313
6. FAYED'S LIES MUTATE AS CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE	314-337
(a) Cash for Questions	314-319
(b) Cash for Greer	321
(c) Gift vouchers	321-326
(d) 1987 Election Fighting Funds	327-332
(e) No witnesses to alleged cash handovers	333-337
7. FAYED PRONE TO MAKE DISHONEST ASSERTIONS WITHOUT SUPPORTING EVIDENCE	338-339
8. FAYED PROCURED FALSE WITNESSES	340-360
(a) Philip Bromfield	341-347
(b) Iris Bond	348-354
(c) Alison Bozek	355-360
9. FAYED THE CHARACTER ASSASSIN	361
CHAPTER 7: ANALYSIS OF LIES AND ERRORS IN FAYED'S AND The Guardian's Witness Statements	362-473
1. Mohamed Fayed	362-399
2. Peter Preston	400-433
3. David Hencke	434-473
CHAPTER 8: LATE DEVELOPMENTS	474-594
The late appearance of crucial documents and witnesses to support the Fayed allegations	474-479
Why was the telephone message pad produced but not the security records?	480-486
The message relating to 2 June 1987	487-490
The messages relating to December 1988	491-494
Fayed's employee witnesses' evidence is suspect	495-500
Bozek and Bond's excellent memories of Greer and Hamilton	501-502
Bozek and Bond's total inability to remember anyone else	503-542
Bozek remembers no-one apart from Greer and Hamilton	504-509
Douglas Marvin	510-522
Tim Smith	523-525
Fayed's office practice	526-530
Bozek and Bond's cock-and-bull stories	531-535
Bromfield's bogus memories	536-539
Amnesia	540-542
Analysis of the evidence of Royston Webb	543-594
1. Webb not an independent witness	543-579
. Webb and the DTI Report	547-555
. The case of Graham Jones and Webb's role in it	556-557
. Fayed made false allegation of bribery against Jones - Jones arrested by the police	558-562
. Webb's duplicitous phone call	563-565
. Jones exonerated by the police	566-568
. Fayed's attempt to obtain DPP prosecution of Jones	569
. Fayed's use of the press to discredit Jones	570-574
. Webb's report and its false allegations against Jones	575
. QANTAS investigated and exonerated Jones	576-579
2. Webb distanced himself in his evidence from Fayed's alleged improper actions	580
3. Webb was careful in his evidence not to implicate himself in malpractice	581-582
4. The Greer/Webb tape-recorded conversation of 20 October 1994	583-587
5. Webb and Tiny Rowland	588
6. Other inconsistencies in Webb's evidence	589
7. Webb's role in Fayed's dirty tricks department	590-594
CHAPTER 9: ANALYSIS OF FAYED'S ORAL EVIDENCE TO THE INQUIRY	595-664
1. Fayed's memory too untrustworthy to be relied on	595-604
2. Fayed's oral evidence contradictory
(a) The D J Freeman letter of 5 December 1994	605-609
(b) The Ritz	610-611
(c) Fayed confused about the chronology	612
(d) Balnagown	613
(e) Dinner invitations of the House of Commons	614
(f) House of Commons gifts	615
(g) Andrew Bowden	616
(h) Timing of initial alleged payments	617-621
(i) Length of time alleged cash payments continued - Hamilton	622-623
(j) Length of time cash payments continued - Smith	624
(k) The amounts alleged to have been paid - Hamilton	625
(l) The amounts alleged to have been paid - Smith	626
(m) The amounts alleged to have been paid - Bowden	627
(n) Royston Webb's evidence	628-630
(o) The alleged "group" of MPs	631-632
(p) The alleged quarterly payments of £5,000 to Greer	633-640
(q) The secretaries as witnesses to the alleged Hamilton payments	641-646
(r) Fayed's age	647
(s) Fayed's bugs	648
(t) Fayed's alleged sense of "public duty" or "conscience"	649-652
(u) No response to Fayed's letter	653-654
(v) Fayed's claim that Greer knew about direct cash payments	655
(w) The size of the vouchers	656
(x) Broad hints about shopping	657-664
CHAPTER 10: ISSUES ARISING FROM MY OWN ORAL CROSS-EXAMINATION	665-778
The Heseltine/Butler memorandum	665-691
The value of Fayed's gifts	692-697
Mislaid diaries	698
The Greer 1987 election funds	699
Alleged meeting with Fayed 2 June 1987	701-704
Financial temptations in June 1987?	705-707
Alleged meeting with Fayed 18 June 1987	708
My role compared with Tim Smith	709-713
Draft letter to Douglas Hurd	714-715
Dale Campbell-Savours	716-717
"Tim Smith drops by the wayside"	718-720
Preston's (and Hencke's) notes	721-723
Fayed telephone message - alleged meeting before Christmas 1988	724-728
Foreign currency for holiday in France September 1987	729
The question of registrability of gifts, hospitality etc., before 1991-92	730-739
Alleged request to return to the Ritz	740-743
Did I drop Fayed after the DTI report?	744-747
Commission payments	748-753
The air tickets to New Orleans	754
Tax treatment of costs of attending Republic Party Convention	755
Tax treatment of commission payments	756-764
Bank account details	765
£40,000 loan from my father	766
"Cash for questions" a Fayed invention	768-772
US Tobacco lobbying	773-778