Jonathan Aitken
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Template:Distinguish2 Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born August 30 1942) is a former Conservative minister and convicted perjurer.
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Personal details
Born in Dublin to Sir William Aitken (himself a Conservative MP) and Penelope Aitken, daughter of John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby, he is a great-nephew of newspaper magnate and war-time minister Lord Beaverbrook. He attended Eton College and read law at Christ Church, Oxford. He served as a war correspondent during the 1960s in Vietnam and Biafra and wrote a biography of Richard Nixon as well as one which could have described himself, Young Meteors.
His sister is the actress, Maria Aitken and his nephew is the actor Jack Davenport. His god-children include Jonathan Michael Cates, a history student at Oxford university, as well as the son of Labour left-winger Diane Abbott, the British Parliament's first black female MP elected in 1987.
Backbench Career
He was returned as MP for Thanet East in the 1974 General Election - from 1983 he sat for South Thanet. A notably handsome man, he managed to offend Margaret Thatcher by ending a relationship with her daughter, Carol Thatcher, and suggesting that Thatcher "probably thinks Sinai is the plural of Sinus" to an Egyptian newspaper. He stayed on the backbenches throughout Thatcher's premiership and engaged in a number of activities including participation in the re-launch of TV-AM (becoming involved in an incident in which broadcaster Anna Ford threw her wine at him to express her outrage at his behaviour and the unwelcome consequent transformation of the station) and seemingly becoming involved in arms activities with or for Saudi Arabia. He eventually became Minister of State for Defence Procurement under John Major in 1992.
Cabinet membership
He became Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1994, a Cabinet position, but resigned in 1995, to defend himself against accusations that whilst serving as Minister of State for Defence Procurement he violated ministerial rules by allowing an Arab businessman to pay for his stay in the Paris Ritz.
Libel action
His libel action against The Guardian newspaper and Granada Television, in which he famously claimed he would rely on "the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of fair play", collapsed in June 1997 (a month after he had lost his seat in the 1997 General Election) when the Guardian produced evidence that his claim that his wife, Lolicia Aitken, paid for the stay could not possibly be true. This evidence was the bill from the Ritz Hotel in Paris itself, marked 'debiteur M. Ayas', and shown to Peter Preston, editor of The Guardian, by the hotel owner Mohamed Al-Fayed in the autumn of 1993. That began the newspaper's investigation which revealed the arms deal scam involving Aitken's friend and business partner, the Lebanese businessman Mohammed Said Ayas, a close associate of Prince Mohammed of Saudi Arabia.
The libel trial collapsed after the Guardian discovered documents which specifically refuted Aitken's alibi. It was alleged that Aitken had been prepared to have his teenage daughter Victoria lie under oath to support his alibi had the case continued.
Guilty of Perjury
Aitken was then charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, and in 1999 was jailed for 18 months (of which he served 7 months). Another puzzle arose because his wife Lolicia, who later left him, was also a likely witness and had apparently been prevailed upon to sign a supportive affidavit to the effect that she had paid his Paris hotel bill, but did not appear. In the end, with the case already in court, careful investigative work by Guardian reporters in hotels in Switzerland and looking through British Airways records paid off when they were able to show that neither Victoria nor Lolicia had been in Paris. Aitken was unable to cover legal costs and was declared bankrupt. As part of the bankruptcy, his trustees settled legal actions against the magazine Private Eye over the various claims it had made that Aitken was a serial liar. He also became one of the few people to resign from the Privy Council; another such person was the disappearing John Stonehouse. Curiously, Aitken's wife turned up to support him when he was sentenced, along with three daughters. These included a previously unadmitted daughter by Soraya Kashoggi, ex-wife of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. On DNA testing at the age of 18, she had turned out to be his, though Mr Khashoggi had previously accepted her as his own.
Prison stay
During Aitken's stay in prison, he claimed to have rediscovered the Bible, learned Greek, and became a student of Christian theology at Oxford University, arousing some scepticism in the media. This part of his life is covered in two autobiographical works called "Pride and Perjury" and "Porridge and Passion". He married his second wife, Elizabeth Harris in June 2003.
Political comeback foiled
In 2004 his proposed return to British politics, in which he was supported by his former constituents, was vetoed by Conservative party leader Michael Howard. Aitken later confirmed that he would not attempt a return to Parliament. He is quoted as saying: "The leader has spoken. I accept his judgement with good grace". He denied rumours he was to stand as an independent candidate insisting that he was not a "spoiler". Consequently a return to full time politics looked unlikely. However, on 2 October, he attended the UKIP conference where he announced his support for the party. The party's subsequent disintegration and loss of support has led Mr. Aitken to focus on his work; two further books are in the immediate pipeline and lecture tours continue to keep him busy.
Ashley Merry, Veritas Party Defence spokesperson, is the public relations advisor to Aitken.
External links and references
- Guardian Special Report – The Aitken Affair
- Aitken, Jonathan, "Pride and Perjury", HarperCollins, London, 2000, ISBN 0-00-274075-3
- The Outrageous Cant of Jonathan Aitken and His Friends. By the Man Who Started the Story summary by Peter Preston from The Guardian
- An evening with Jonathan Aitken – Aitken tells the story of his perjury and walk of faith to an audience at St George's Church in Leeds, UK. The talk is available as a podcast - follow the listen again links to iTunes or search any podcast directory for St George's Church.
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- {{{2|{{{name|Jonathan Aitken}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database