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ANJALI MODY
He owns Harrods department store, which with its various royal seals of approval has for long been a by-word for Britishness. He revived another very British institution, the satirical magazine Punch, he owns Fulham football club, donates to charities like Great Ormond Street Children's hospital; he has financed films including the Oscar winning Chariots of Fire, and has even hosted the Queen at her favourite pastime - a horse race. But, he cannot be a citizen of Great Britain. Who is he?
Mohammed Al Fayed, of course, father of Dodi Fayed who died in the car crash with Princess Diana. Mr Al Fayed's application for British citizenship was turned down, yet again. In a statement, the Home Office said: "The home secretary has decided not to grant Mohamed al-Fayed's citizenship application after taking into account all relevant material."
Al-Fayed's spokesman Laurie Mayer said: "We think that the decision by the home secretary is perverse."
He also drew attention to the fact that al Fayed clearly not asocial pariah, and that apart from sitting next to the Queen at Ascot he had only the night before shaken hand with both the Prime Minister and the home secretary. Mayer said: "We also find it remarkable that only last night the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and home secretary, Jack Straw, saw fit to shake hands with Mr Fayed at a conference of the Muslim Council of Britain. Yet today they have decided he is not fit to be a British citizen."
So, if his hand can be shaken by the Prime Minister why does citizenship elude al Fayed , or "the controversial al Fayed" as he is often referred to? He first applied for citizenship in 1995 and had it turned down by the then Conservative government. At the times al Fayed said he could not understand the decision, he said: "Why won't they give me a passport? I own Harrods and employ thousands of people in this country."
One view was that his extended corporate battle with South African businessman, and former Harrods owner Tiny Rowlands may have had something to do withit. Rowland, who also owned the Observer newspaper, refused to accept the new owners, Mohammed al-Fayed and his brother Ali, and mounted a bitter campaign against them which resulted in the government's decision to hold a Department of Trade inquiry into the take-over. The brothers insisted that the inquiry was "unwarranted and unfair". The inquiry concluded that the al-Fayeds had lied about their background and their wealth. This only confirmed the class conscious Conservative establishment's view of the al Fayed's, who began life as the sons of a poor school teacher in Alexandria, as "upstart foreigners".
Piqued, at having had his application rejected Mohammed al Fayed revealed to the press that he had paid cash to rising Conservative stars, MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith, to ask questions related to his interests in parliament. Both were forced out (and lost the subsequent elections) but not before the entire Conservative government was tarred with the brush of sleaze.
Perversely it is possibly thiselement of al Fayed's relentless pursuit of British citizenship that has made it so hard for him second time around. It is not so much the "upstart" or "foreigner" tag that hounds al Fayed now, but the fact that on both sides of the House of Commons he is seen as a slippery customer who has little respect for parliamentary democracy. One Labour MP, who whole heartedly supported the Home Secretary's decision said: "Just because he has a cheque book on which he can write many knots does not make him eligible for itizenship."
Basic British Home Office requirements for citizenship are that the applicant is over 18, of good character and intends to live in Britain. Al Fayed clearly fulfils requirements one and three, it is two that is up for discussion.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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