Defiant Mosley vows not to resign

Tuesday 1st April 2008




Max Mosley has apologised after allegedly being caught embroiled in a ****-style sex orgy and insisted he has no intention of standing down as FIA president.

In his first statement since the News of the World published pictures of a man it claimed was Mosley involved in what Planet-F1 can only vaguely describe as sadomasochistic activities, a defiant Mosley claimed that he had been the victim of a smear campaign. The FIA boss, the son of the Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley, also denied that there had been any '**** connotation to the matter'.

In a letter sent to all FIA members, Mosley wrote: "From information provided to me by an impeccable high-level source close to the UK police and security services, I understand that over the last two weeks or so, a covert investigation of my private life and background has been undertaken by a group specialising in such things, for reasons and clients as yet unknown. I have had similar but less well-sourced information from France.

"Regrettably you are now familiar with the results of this covert investigation and I am very sorry if this has embarrassed you or the club. Not content with publicising highly personal and private activities, which are, to say the least, embarrassing, a British tabloid newspaper published the story with the claim that there was some sort of **** connotation to the matter. This is entirely false."

Mosley also claimed to have received significant support from the F1 fraternity.

"I have received a very large number of messages of sympathy and support from those within the FIA and the motor sport and motoring communities generally, suggesting that my private life is not relevant to my work and that I should continue in my role. I am grateful and with your support I intend to follow this advice.

"I shall now devote some time to those responsible for putting this into the public domain but above all I need to repair the damage to my immediate family who are the innocent and unsuspecting victims of this deliberate and calculated personal attack.

"You can, however be certain that I will not allow any of this to impede my commitment to the work of the FIA."

As yet, none of the F1 teams have commented on the story in public, although leading commentator and former driver Martin Brundle has been among those involved in the sport who have called for Mosley to stand down. While refusing to accept that his friend should resign, Bernie Ecclestone has suggested that Mosley should miss this weekend's Bahrain GP - a suggestion he is expected to heed.

According to The Times, 'Among car manufacturers involved in Formula One there was particular disgust in Germany where BMW and Mercedes-Benz are based, over the **** element in Mr Mosley's conduct. The story is also believed to have dismayed senior figures in the Japanese companies, Toyota and Honda, who have strict rules on personal and official morality.'

The newspaper quotes a 'leading figure in a Japanese Formula One team' saying: "It's a credibility and judgment issue - fantasising about one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century is obviously completely inappropriate."

Sex, ***** and videotape: Max Mosley orgy is big news in GermanyRoger Boyes, Berlin
The Germans are second only to the British in their fascination for newspaper stories involving ***** and sex. Television documentaries entitled "Hitler's women" regularly get top viewing figures.

No suprise then that Bild, Germany's mass circulation newspaper (readership estimated at 12 million), had as its front page splash a gritty black and white photograph of a black-clad prositute and a naked grey-haired Englishman. "Uproar over **** Sex party!" said the headline. "Five hour orgy on video, ****** wear **** uniforms". The newspaper stresses that the man is only allegedly Max Mosley.

But inside the newspaper -- on page 19 close to the usual Formula One coverage -- Bild makes clear that Mr Mosley is of prime initerest to German readers: educated in the elite German boarding school Salem, a friend of Michael Schumacher, and that rare Englishman -- a fluent German speaker. A photograph of Oswald Mosley making a Hitler salute underlines the fact that the family has two generations of links with Germany.

No other German newspaper covers the affair quite so extensively -- Bild has three other pictures from the News of the World video -- but it is clear why the story is unusually spicey for a German public. Wearing **** uniforms is banned as is the display of the swastika -- the pictures of Prince Harry's fancy dress party gave readers a rare chance chance to see the **** symbol, and even then some newspapers blocked it out. The idea that Englishmen could pay to be whipped by women dressed in these uniforms, or those of concentration camp prisoners, is deeply shocking, a violation of Germany's deepest and darkest taboos.

No wonder that Bild and other tabloids were planning some form of follow-up for Tuesday's editions.

"This is a story with everything, no?" said a journalist at BZ, the Berlin tabloid