might consider merited a medal for public service as much as a rebuke). The brothers’ father had not, as they maintained, been close friends with the Sultan of Brunei. The yacht
Dodi
, which they claimed had always been in the family, was not acquired until 1962. And so on. Nor were their standards of veracity any better when it came to their personal lives and background. They did not, as they had said and allowed to be repeated, come from an old-established Egyptian family who had been shipowners and industrialists for more than a hundred years; on the contrary, they came from “respectable but humble origins” and were “the sons of teachers.” They had supplied false birth certificates, lowering their ages bybetween four and ten years. They had “improved” their name from Fayed to Al-Fayed. Finally, their claim to have been subjected in childhood to the benign influence of British nannies was rejected as false.
Backbench Conservative MPs reacted to the report with pop-eyed rage. Don’t let the crooks get away with it! Take the shop away from them! Damn Gippo parvenus—first you let them into the club and then it turns out they didn’t even have proper nannies! Such was the tenor of their remarks. Sir Edward du Cann, a former chairman of the powerful Tory backbench pressure group the 1922 Committee, demanded that Harrods be stripped of its four royal warrants (the public sign that the store supplies members of the Royal Family), adding, “I think the Fayeds should be forced to leave the country.” However, since Sir Edward is currently the chairman of Lonrho, his remarks may not have been entirely objective. In contrast with all this backbench clamor, the Conservative Cabinet has throughout the affair shown an extraordinary, almost heroic consistency. Despite the fiercest pressures, it has tenaciously stuck to the holy principle of laissez-faire and has most actively remained passive. The first Trade Secretary to be involved, Norman Tebbit, declined to refer the Al-Fayed bid to the Monopolies Commission. The second, Lord Young, followed this lead and also declined to publish the DTI report. Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Attorney General, declined to prosecute. The third Trade Minister involved, Nicholas Ridley, did even better. Naturally, he declined to refer the matter to the Monopolies Commission. Naturally, he declined to disqualify the brothers from being company directors, as he could have done. But he far outstripped his predecessors in Nelsonic nonnoticing and lizardlike somnolence. His entire statement to the Commons on the Harrods affair and the inspectors’ epic report lasted a mere two minutes, and ended, “No other matters require action from me.” The nearest he came to any judgment on the whole business was to say, “Anyone who reads the report can decide for themselves what they think of the conduct of those involved.”
So what are we to decide? Tory MPs cry bounder and rogue. Labour MPs cry fraud and cover-up (plus bounder and rogue). TheSultan of Brunei, who declined to cooperate with the inquiry, continues to deny that any of his money was involved in the purchase. (The inspectors’ theory runs as follows: the Fayeds used their association with the Sultan, and their possession of wide powers of attorney, to raise money on their own account. This would explain the sudden, huge influx of funds, and also why the Sultan has severed contact with his former representatives.) The Fayed brothers, having lost their “al-” throughout the British press, continue to own Harrods, even if it is now smearily nicknamed Harrabs in some quarters. Mohamed Fayed, who never had a British nanny, continues to slice up salami in the food hall whenever there is a photo opportunity. Harrods itself has gone from being a publicly owned company to being a family business whose parent organization in Liechtenstein is beyond British scrutiny and British law. And the Conservative Government, if we are to believe some
Dodi
, which they claimed had always been in the family, was not acquired until 1962. And so on. Nor were their standards of veracity any better when it came to their personal lives and background. They did not, as they had said and allowed to be repeated, come from an old-established Egyptian family who had been shipowners and industrialists for more than a hundred years; on the contrary, they came from “respectable but humble origins” and were “the sons of teachers.” They had supplied false birth certificates, lowering their ages bybetween four and ten years. They had “improved” their name from Fayed to Al-Fayed. Finally, their claim to have been subjected in childhood to the benign influence of British nannies was rejected as false.
Backbench Conservative MPs reacted to the report with pop-eyed rage. Don’t let the crooks get away with it! Take the shop away from them! Damn Gippo parvenus—first you let them into the club and then it turns out they didn’t even have proper nannies! Such was the tenor of their remarks. Sir Edward du Cann, a former chairman of the powerful Tory backbench pressure group the 1922 Committee, demanded that Harrods be stripped of its four royal warrants (the public sign that the store supplies members of the Royal Family), adding, “I think the Fayeds should be forced to leave the country.” However, since Sir Edward is currently the chairman of Lonrho, his remarks may not have been entirely objective. In contrast with all this backbench clamor, the Conservative Cabinet has throughout the affair shown an extraordinary, almost heroic consistency. Despite the fiercest pressures, it has tenaciously stuck to the holy principle of laissez-faire and has most actively remained passive. The first Trade Secretary to be involved, Norman Tebbit, declined to refer the Al-Fayed bid to the Monopolies Commission. The second, Lord Young, followed this lead and also declined to publish the DTI report. Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Attorney General, declined to prosecute. The third Trade Minister involved, Nicholas Ridley, did even better. Naturally, he declined to refer the matter to the Monopolies Commission. Naturally, he declined to disqualify the brothers from being company directors, as he could have done. But he far outstripped his predecessors in Nelsonic nonnoticing and lizardlike somnolence. His entire statement to the Commons on the Harrods affair and the inspectors’ epic report lasted a mere two minutes, and ended, “No other matters require action from me.” The nearest he came to any judgment on the whole business was to say, “Anyone who reads the report can decide for themselves what they think of the conduct of those involved.”
So what are we to decide? Tory MPs cry bounder and rogue. Labour MPs cry fraud and cover-up (plus bounder and rogue). TheSultan of Brunei, who declined to cooperate with the inquiry, continues to deny that any of his money was involved in the purchase. (The inspectors’ theory runs as follows: the Fayeds used their association with the Sultan, and their possession of wide powers of attorney, to raise money on their own account. This would explain the sudden, huge influx of funds, and also why the Sultan has severed contact with his former representatives.) The Fayed brothers, having lost their “al-” throughout the British press, continue to own Harrods, even if it is now smearily nicknamed Harrabs in some quarters. Mohamed Fayed, who never had a British nanny, continues to slice up salami in the food hall whenever there is a photo opportunity. Harrods itself has gone from being a publicly owned company to being a family business whose parent organization in Liechtenstein is beyond British scrutiny and British law. And the Conservative Government, if we are to believe some
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