Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England (2024)

August 2, 2000

Publication:

Evening Standardi

Location:

London, Greater London, England

Issue Date:

Wednesday, August 2, 2000

Page:

30

Extracted Article Text (OCR)

30 WEDNESDAY 2 AUGUST 2000 Features EVENING STANDARD 6 Exposing a sleazeball make me a sleazeball9 Continued from previous page that Tony Blair had an offshore bank account worth millions that would be different bring it all But he had more than tittle-tattle on the Welsh Secretary Ron Davies whose "moment of on Clapham Common cost him his job Davies was a disaster waiting to happen Clifford says His wife had already come to him as had guys had relationships with When the story broke Clifford ensured his complicated and formerly private life came tumbling after It was he says after leading With Antonia de Sancha: "I did feel sorry for Mrs ing for his help in publicising a visit of Muslim clerics to London Charities know him to be generous with his time and money (although as a speaker I am told his daughter Louise puts him in the shade) Of course the Establishment including the higher-minded newspaper editors hate him he has exposed too many of their friends but the public have no such snobbery which is why they turn to him So saying he takes a call from a punter erroneously convinced he has a story on his hands worth millions Actually I think people turn to him despite their qualms because he knows how to make them money I am more impressed by the canny media figures who have time for him Esther Rantzen forwards letters to him Another prominent journalist volunteered that when her daughter contracted epilepsy she in despair contacted Clifford who was diagnosed epileptic 11 years ago and he got her an appointment with a leading specialist within days He can keep friends too some from his earliest days in music PR As I am about to leave Adam Faith puts his head round the corner and invites Max for cup of (Clifford does not drink) So Clifford can on occasion use the power he has accumulated for good and out of friendship It is still the power of the harlot He says he has and of damaging photographs of celebrities tucked away mainly of his own clients which he has bought to protect them Imagine the hold that gives him If all power corrupts what is to stop it corrupting him? Wt may monitor or record nib You mutt bciyrdMoroverandiiwuil mortjip over your property We wiN take into account your penonal and financial cireumtancei and the value or price of your property There and the product you chooae anil affect how much we lend you and what if any additional mortpfe security fee you have to pay Thn product ts not available to wt Halifai borrower! not movm horn The telephone morttatc service ia only available for mortaei on property in the UK Our product! and offen are subject to condition! We can withdraw them without notice Our tracker ratei track the lank of En(landk repo rate (currently 60) The rate will be 011 below the lank of liglanA repo rale until IM October 2002 then 10 above that rate until list October With tracker Merest rates the special interest rate wdl only apply dunn the special rale periods as mentioned earlier The AN is calculated assumm you will pay 011 below the lank of England! repo rate until Jbt October 2002 then 10 above that rate until the end of the mortgage term Wc may need additional mortgage security Wr will pay the additional mortgage security fee for loans up to 90 of the value or purchase price (whichever is lower) if we receive the mortgage applrcation on or before list October 2002 Wa will pay our comeyancen' legal fees associated with a remortgage Tlou must pay lor any advice you seek on the remortgage or any addnional legal services For more details and written quotation ask at your local office Typical esanle: Assuming a 509 (77AN) tracker rate mortgage witk the tracker rate period ending on list October 2005 lepaymenl term 25 yean Repayment mortgage of (50000 completed on Wh October 2000 seemed on a (57000 property with valuation fee £165 conveyancer's charges (11750 mortgage discharge fee (50 deeds despatch fee (H initial mtcrest (11277 Additional Mortgage Security fee waived and also that the mortgage is repaid at the end of the mortgage term The tracker rate it 011 below the lank of England's repo rate until list October 2002 followed by 100 above the lank of England's repo rate until 11 October 2005 24 monthly mortgage payments of (12255 followed by 16 monthly payments of (15155 followed by 240 monthly payments of (17626 Total amount payable (1TU44 Halifai pic Trinity Id Halifai West Yorkshire MX1 JIG YOUR HOME IS AT RISK IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOAN SECURED ON IT Part of the Halifai Group Halifai pic represents only the Halifai Financial Services Marketing Group which is regulated by the Personal Investment Authority for life assurance pensions and unit trusts Mortgages Direct Only 589 77apr Only over the phone me into the scrubland of unatt-ributable a question of a minister leaving himself open to blackmail want to hurt people never been my nature much rather help someone than hurt them I have hurt people but when I have in my view I can justify exactly what I have done I did feel very sorry for Mrs Mellor but I think Max Clifford is responsible for breaking up the family I even break that David Mellor called him a sleazeball make me a sleazeball but if I am David Mellor would be the a good line from the greatest tabloid editor Fleet Street never had Freddie Starr never ate hamster but fib made an immortal headline The invention that Mellor wore a Chelsea football strip when making love to Antonia de Sancha was an embellishment worthy of Kelvin MacKenzie But he has I fear a lesser tabloid habit of rushing to the high moral ground On paedophilia for example he makes Rebekah Wade look like a bleeding-heart liberal He carries Gary scalp like a trophy Since starting out on his own 30 years ago he has been able to pick whom he represents he says as if to explain how he has kept his virtue I really like someone instinctively from the start I get involved normally so busy in the middle of so many things that if an arrogant pig I am not interested You know a guy phoned me yesterday whose girlfriend is on Big Brother and well he was obnoxious I told him sorry not interested Go somewhere But if instinct is his guide his has frequently been terrible Professionally he has kept lousy company Take the Hamster-eater himself: Clifford actually ended up representing Freddie wife when she accused her husband of beating her Then there was the comic Lenny Bennett who went on television in 1995 to denounce him very bitter man Remember too magician David Copperfield Once upon a time Clifford wearing wings was selling stories about his unlikely romance with Claudia Schiffer Today Copperfield is a joke in his repertoire course I was being honest when I said they were in love but what I meant was David loves David and Claudia loves Claudia" The trouble with fame he says sadly is that it turns nice people into Beyond show business he has represented OJ Simpson (of whose innocence he remains convinced) would-be sextuplet mother Mandy Allwood (who later sued him) and the alleged killers of Stephen Lawrence (whom he bizarrely felt had never been allowed to put their case) Two weeks ago to add to this gallery he announced that his new associate the fired News of the World editor Phil Hall was to be press minder for Mohamed Fayed Clifford having represented Fulham FC believes the Phoney pluses outnumber his minuses but sound too hopeful that he will persuade us of his arithmetic I am able in the next five years to show the man I know that will be all I wanted But I think going to be able to do it He is his own worst And so by taking him on is Clifford his own worst enemy? What I do not appreciate he says is that the majority of his work is worthy and uncontroversial He passes me a letter from Donald Reeves the former Rector of St Piccadilly ask guess is that it is his conscientious nursing of Louise over the years that has kept him on nodding terms with civilised values At home in Surrey the Cliffords face real crises Liz to whom he has been married for 33 years is preparing to donate a kidney to Louise her own having been damaged by years of medication No wonder Clifford mocks the fragile egos of the celebrities he represents So Mr nasty side? aggressive very competitive I was always being banned from football for getting into Does he hit people? had lots of punch-ups over the years Mainly through sport a very physical person But I am not a bully Most of the scraps I get into are on behalf on somebody else I was in Cambridge a few weeks ago and got thumped in the eye That was front page of The Mirror my black I fancy the PR heel is a weakness for self-publicity On the wall behind him Clifford has faked a of the award to himself for last Archer-alibi exclusive He deserved it In the old days people with secrets would march down Fleet Street Now that papers live glass towers and everyone is media savvy they come to Clifford who knows exactly what to do Meanwhile in politics public relations has become king Clifford is its court jester practically part of the political process Perhaps future editions of the parliamentary rule book Erskine May will decree that by convention memos are always leaked through Max Clifford Associates usual channels" Assuming they ever were that is I detect traces of integrity in Clifford but I still leave his company with a saline taste in my mouth as if of a wrkie pie I have swallowed I ask if le enjoys being misleading am tionest or more honest than most he retorts We pause It not we agree saying very much Your rate moves in line with the Bank of England base rate (589 until 31102002 7 until 31102005 at current base rate) No tie-ins or arrangement fees at any time If remortgaging there are no valuation fees and we'll pay our legal fees So get on the phone for a great rate.

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