WHY GADDAFI IS A BETTER MAN THAN BLAIR

Boris Johnson hears the owner of Harrods speak frankly about

his friend Colonel Gaddafi and his enemies Prince Philip, Tony Blair and the entire homosexual establishment

IT has been noted that one of the curious features of the Lockerbie trial is that the chief suspect is not in the dock. Under Robin Cook's brilliant `ethical' foreign poli- cy, it was agreed that Libya would just cough up the two security-service men, while the man who must have ordered the massacre if the Crown's case is correct — is immune. Gaddafi's guilt is `not an issue', says Robin Cook grandly.

So where is he, the old IRA-backer, the gun-runner, the godfather of terror, whose cowardly `diplomats' shot WPC Yvonne Fletcher. He's in Tripoli, still wearing his dark glasses. And who has just come to tea for a couple of hours of lolling on the cushions, but one of this coun- try's foremost businessmen and philanthropists and owner of Britain's premier department store. That's right. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the Mohamed and Muammar show.

There were the poor relatives in the Scottish court in Holland, hearing how the pulse from the radar screen disappeared on the night of 21 December 1988, after the Semtex went off in the hold, and the bodies of their loved ones rained down from 31,000 feet, and a fireball engulfed the Scottish village; and just as the hearing got under way the proprietor of Harrods and the men who authorised the killing were quaffing Libya's finest brew-up and talking multi-billion dollar oil contracts and Mr Fayed's amazing plans to turn the rogue state into the Benidorm of the south- ern Mediterranean. Isn't life grand, eh?

The Americans may make a fuss, since they still apply sanctions. But will the British public give a hoot? He's a one, isn't he, that Mohamed Al Fayed. That's what the audi- ence of Da Ali G Show thinks when he goes on, a-jigging and a-japing. That's the line to take, suggests his spokesman, Laurie Mayer, the likeable former Sky News man who has succeeded Michael Cole in what is one of the more taxing jobs in public relations. Mo is the 'scourge of the establishment' he sug- gests; and so, before Fayed drops his stun- ning news about his new friendship with Gaddafi, I try to put what I think is the establishment case to him, with mixed results. The reader is warned that what fol- lows is frequently profane and slightly bonkers.

The proprietor of Harrods is to be found on the fifth floor of the great emporium, behind some panelled double doors marked private. You press a button. You are observed by the camera. You enter a low beige corridor, and soon Mohamed comes in. His face is faintly puce, as though he has just finished shouting at someone, though it may also be because he is in rude health, thanks to his regime of diving into freezing water, which, he tells me later, is vital for maintaining potency at the age of 67. He sits before a picture of Nelson dying at Trafalgar in his curious butler get-up: black tie, grey and black silk shirt, white collar, and waves some headlines at me.

One of Ken Livingstone's aides has said that Prince Philip is a racist. Ha! says Mo Fayed. So he is not alone. And here is another article, about how the MOD plans to spend £1.3 billion doing up its HQ. `This is very interesting for you to read about the masses of ordinary people suffering, and they want to build this atrium, the fucking people why don't they sit in a tent some- where in a military camp?'

A girl comes in with a glass of red wine with a very thick napkin balanced across the rim. 'You want a glass of wine?' It is 4 pm, so I decline. 'It's just before lunch. I don't eat dinner. I eat before 5 o'clock,' he says. So, Mohamed, I begin. What's up with you and the British ruling class? What have they all got against you? 'It's the racism, the hypocrisy,' he says heavily.

`The establishment don't accept that somebody like me can have the enormous power I have, the connections you know, the way I can influence the masses of the ordi- nary people with my good works, my welfare. Last year I spend £30 million on the hospi- tals, the orphans, the deaf schools, but I don't like to talk about it.' Mum's the word, then. But why has New Labour taken the same hostile line as the Tories? Why did Jack Straw refuse you a passport after all you did to ensure a Labour victory at the last elec- tion?

`We are not ruled by the politicians. The politicians are taking orders from the civil ser- vants, the permanent secre- taries. These are the people who are ruling us. Most of the civil servants work for MI5 or MI6. That is the truth. I am telling you that. They are the power.' Gosh, really? The civil servants are really spies? You mean chaps like Sir Richard Wilson, the head of the civil service? `I don't know the name. There has to be something there.' But what have they against you, Mohamed? `They don't want me to have the passport because I am saying exactly what happened to my son. It is MI6 and the royal farnily- They say "how dare Mohamed Fayed say that" because they know bloody well they have killed my son and they killed Diana.' I see. But perhaps people thought you told too many whoppers about those tragic events? 'It is all bullshit,' he says, and launch- es a general attack on Blair. 'You can see after three years this guy is becoming defi- nitely worse than the Tories. Most of them are only mediocre people committed only to themselves when they are in power; they have forgotten about the masses, the needy, the pensioners, the old people. It's just dev- astating. Go in the inner cities, and you see the real devastation.' He speaks of two hos- pices for sick children that would have been closed down without his intervention, in Liv- erpool and London. 'Where is the govern- ment? Where is the taxpayers' money?' Now if Labour are really as bad as the Tories, does that mean you are bribing them, too? 'They take money but it happens they don't come my way. You take someone like Mandelson. He take the £370,000 and then they put Robinson to be the Treasury minis- ter, right? I met Mandelson for over two hours before the election, with my friend David Puttnam. Look at what I have done for the Labour party! I have spent more than LS million denouncing the Tories and cor- ruption.' And now what? he says. Betrayal. He describes the moment a year ago when he appeared with Jack Straw and Blair at a Muslim rally. He shook hands with Blair, whom he had not seen since the funeral of the Princess of Wales.

`Jack Straw he just look at me and next day he say fuck you, no nationality. It's unbe- lievable. There's no reason. I'm 35 years in this country, and I didn't commit one traffic. Tony Blair is like a fart coming out. The biggest fart that this nation has ever seen. Diana supported him before the election, she say what a great man he was. She was talking very highly of him. If he really the Prime Minister, how can he leave two evil organisations, MI5 and MI6, above the law?' Why, demands Fayed, has Blair not gone to the House of Commons and dismissed his suggestions about the causes of the Paris Crash? It is because Blair is afraid, he says. 'They are terrified because they have big skeletons. You don't know if Tony Blair has boyfriends or is himself bisexual. All these people know they can be flushed out by the spies, because our destiny, our human rights, our freedom are kidnapped by a bunch of gangsters and crooks, this KGB system, this Gestapo system, and at the head of this is Prince Philip.' He then makes some other remarks about the Queen's consort, that blameless carriage-driving champion, which are not fit for a family magazine. It cost me £15 million just to sponsor the [Royal Windsor] horse-show, and after they kill my son they cancel the horse-show and give it to Asprey to do it. They cancel the horseshow after they kill my son, OK.' , But perhaps, I repeat, they were offended. Paul the lies you told about the crash? 'Henri Paul was on MI6 files for three years. Have You seen James Hewitt say how Manakee [a former bodyguard of the Princess] was killed because he dared to go out with Diana?' He says Prince Charles could have rung him at any time and he would have put the kibosh on the Diana–Dodi romance. , 2v I Would have said, Sir, whatever you want. 4ould have told Dodi to get out of Diana. wo. body told me to do this. I don't interfere With my son. He's a 42-year-old guy, iand am having nothing to do with Dana emotionally.' But what about the fantasy engagement ring, the fantasy last words, the fact that he could not have seen the Princess's body, and all the rest of the rhubarb you came out with? 'But look, I am the closest person. I am the father of the one who has been murdered. Everything comes to me, no one has the right to criticise me.'

But Mohamed, don't you feel guilty, that the Princess of Wales and your son died while in your care?

`Why should I feel guilty? He call me and say the Place Vendome is full and I say stay in the hotel and don't take any risks, because this can be very vicious. He agree with me. After I put down the phone, 15 minutes later Henri Paul goes to him and says there's no problem, they can go from the back, nobody will see, and Dodi agreed because he had the champagne, he had the ring, and they were going to announce their engagement Mon- day morning.' According to Fayed's account, Henri Paul was instructed to go to the Alma tunnel, and, I think, allow himself to be bumped off by his masters in MI6 by crash- ing at top speed into the pillar. `He had been told what to do, what tunnel to take. Dodi and Henri Paul died instantly. By laser gun. Definitely. In the pathologist's report, they found a brown spot in the side of the brain they don't understand. How can people just pretend, like that bloody fucking Martyn Gregory [see article in 8 January issue] . . Trevor Rees-Jones [the surviving bodyguard]. I gave him all the care and all the attention. Without me Trevor Rees- Jones would never be alive today.'

He makes various libellous suggestions about Trevor Rees-Jones, and it is frankly a relief when he suddenly announces his plans for Libya, which he visited three weeks ago. 'It's the first time I have been there for 20 years,' he says. `Gaddafi invite me personally. I was received like a head of state. Now I have contracts worth £25 bil- lion to rebuild the whole infrastructure of Libya. They will never give any business to the British or the Americans. They are giv- ing me three major oil concessions. They are still very bitter with the boycott because they handicap the whole country.' And how was the old anti-imperialist looking?

He looks healthy and strong. He's a young guy; he's 60 years old. I never expected to see a leader so committed to his people. You see the pleasure of the people. They have no poverty, no begging, no shanty towns. Natu- ral water he bring up from the south, 4,000 miles of pipes. They have houses, highways, and everyone have a beautiful house, and this is leadership, you know.' And what about this genial man's role in the Lockerbie killings? 'It's all bullshit. You're going to see he have done nothing. The prosecution have nothing. It's just the most stupid thing, because they have no proof. He is not the type of person to cause the murder and mas- sacre of 400 people. He is a great guy believ- ing in God.'

The sanctions were absurd, he says. 'I mean, why they lose a market like that? Libya have oil like Saudi Arabia,' he says; and not just oil. He sees Libya as the next great destination for package tourism, and has plans to develop 1,400 kilometres of the Mediterranean coastline. 'It's just the most beautiful beaches,' he raves; 'it's three and a half hours from London'; and while Har- rods oil is pumping Libyan crude, Harrods will be equipped with Libyan rugs and fruits. Stunning, eh?

Maybe the trouble is that the establish- ment is just too snooty about his entre- preneurial flair. Perhaps the Brits never forgave him for misrepresenting — as the DTI inspectors determined — his origins and the source of his wealth? 'But that is not the reason. My origin, my origin, what have that to do? I have the money, I paid the money, everybody took the money. Tiny Rowland made an £80 million profit [on the House of Fraser deal]'. Didn't you open the Harrods safe belonging to Tiny Rowland?

`How can somebody like me just dismantle the confidence and trust of people like that? It's all bullshit.' So why did you pay damages to Bob Loftus, your head of security, after you accused him of opening the safe on his own authority? 'The damages have nothing to do with that. I don't want to be carried away with vendetta and give a chance to the newspapers.' And why did you pay £1 million to Tiny Rowland's widow? 'Because I don't want to get in a hassle, you know, waste my time, because they have it in for me. I am defending myself because I know I am inno- cent, and I want to do my duty for my coun- try, the people, the masses, for the future generations. This is not democracy. You appoint your boyfriends, all your homosexu- al guys to the House of Lords.'

Why won't the Guardian co-operate with him these days, as it did so avidly in bringing down the Tories?

`The decent guy who was really running this with great patriotism was the previous editor, great guy. I have a great deal of respect for him.' He is clearly struggling to remember his name. Peter Preston, I say. ausbridger he didn't come to say thank you. I fought with him to expose these people, and he didn't come to say thank you.' Why doesn't Rusbridger pursue the Labour party, though? 'Maybe he want a title. Maybe he want to be a lord or a sir.'

Wasn't it wrong to conspire with Preston to produce a bill from your own hotel? 'The most important thing I see is the flicking minister of procurement [Aitken] sitting in my hotel in a public area with two arms dealers making deals, and after that I was shocked.' But weren't you really angry with the Tories, Mohamed, because in spite of all your bribes they turned you down for a passport?

`It have nothing to do with the passport. I don't want to take revenge. I promise you people make a big fuss. I don't give a shit about the passport. All these things have been pushed on me, just as part of the racist hypocrisy. The ordinary people, they see my good work, my charitable work, and they support me.' He says he has a warehouse in Osterley full of letters of sympathy, and his website has had 11 million hits in the last four months.

`What do you want more than that, 11 mil- lion hits? All the time I go to bed, I put everything behind me, and that's it. It comes good, it comes bad. We live between angels and devils. If you're good, angels will take you; if you're bad, devils. It's an old Egyptian saying. Pharaonic.'