Man of his word
Sir: Because he encompassed so many self- contradictions — millionaire socialist, obsessively secretive self-publicist and so on — for every bad tale about Robert Maxwell there is also a contrapuntal good one. Like this one.
In June 1969, the then General Secretary of the Labour Party, Harry Nicholas, had the 'optimistically scatty idea that if only one million of Labour's 13 million or so voters could be persuaded to shell out £5 each Labour's financial problems would be banished forever. He dubbed it the Fight- ing Fivers Fund.
Maxwell, who was always keen on fund- raising, recognised its vital importance to a perpetually impoverished left-wing party, and volunteered to underwrite an advertis- ing campaign to launch the Fighting Fivers Fund, to the tune of £5,000. The first £5,000 raised would be paid back to Maxwell, and all additional donations thereafter would go straight to Labour. This is not an uncommon type of guarantee in fund-raising, but it is always generous: Maxwell stood to lose the lot, equivalent to at least £50,000 today. He was already well- off in 1969, but certainly not wildly rich.
I placed the advertising, not without a lit- tle trepidation in case Maxwell reneged on his guarantee if things went awry. They did, he didn't. The campaign raised a paltry few hundred quid, and Maxwell coughed up some £4,600, writing me a personal cheque instantly and without a quibble.
His behaviour, in other words, was impeccable throughout.
Winston Fletcher
Chapman's Farm, Dunsden Green, Reading
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