Oliver White
As British Prime Minister Tony Blair serves his last few weeks in office, it has been suggested by Pitpass that Bernard Ecclestone has been nominated for a knighthood. This is something Pitpass (and myself) find highly amusing. When Labour came to power in 1997, they quickly admitted to receiving a £1m donation from Mr Ecclestone at a time when the F1 supremo was trying to get the sport exempted from the tobacco advertising ban. As you can imagine, this marred the initial phase of Tony Blair’s government, and since then they have continued to add further controversy by themselves.
It should be noted that Labour refunded Ecclestone the money, and the sport received a temporary exemption anyway.
Recently, it has been suggested that Tony Blair could face legal proceedings over allegations that some people have paid cash for their honours. It makes you wonder if Ecclestone hasn’t re-issued that cheque, doesn’t it? Pitpass report that Bernie has already turned down previous requests for an honour, and the F1 controller would not necessarily be receiving it on the grounds of his Formula One work, but rather instead for helping with the 2012 Olympic Games bid, work done for charity and also for the country.
It still smells fishy to me though!
This is probably an attempt by the government to get F1 on side. Bernie’s already wise to it, and I thought people who have refused honours are automatically taken off future honours lists anyway, so don’t expect any awards for Bernie in the near future.