Of course if a greedy Tory came his way Poulson snapped him up. He welcomed with open wallet a Tory cabinet minister, Reginald Maudling, and a prominent Tory backbencher, John Cordle, whose membership of the Synod of the Church of England in no way precluded him from accepting generous bribes from John Poulson.
Poulson built one of the biggest architectural practices in Europe by the simple device of bribing politicians, council officials, sheikhs and sultans.
No Labour chairman of committees was too lowly for Poulson. Vast inedible dinners in hotels were his speciality for Labour councillors.
There was no reason at all why John Poulson should ever have been knocked off his pedestal. The business world then (and now) was full of gangsters and charlatans who lived out their life in the full glow of their contemporaries’ high regard.
Poulson was done down by his own greed. Like Robert Maxwell in a later period, he became obsessed with obtaining riches which were beyond his grasp. He borrowed too much and spent too much.
When he finally went bankrupt, journalists who had honoured him and fed at his table turned on him to gloat at the ‘greatest corruption story of the decade’.
Poulson went to prison for seven years. Yet he did nothing more than what other more skilful ‘entrepreneurs’ have done.
In many ways he was a model for the ‘enlightened self-interest capitalism’ which became known as Thatcherism. He helped himself at others’ expense, grabbed what he could from his workers, sold his customers short with shoddy goods, built himself a palatial house and promised to do his duty to God and the Queen. Paul Foot, article 13th February 1993, ‘Bribery & Corruption’
Since he was elected Tory MP for Tatton in 1983, he [Neil Hamilton] has rested the extreme Thatcherite right, constantly baiting true unionists, the unemployed and the dispossessed. He flaunts the sterile wit and pervasive arrogance of all the Thatcherite Young Turks who grew rich and famous at the expense of others in the Golden Years of Private Enterprise. Hamilton denies being paid £2,000 a time to ask questions, but he does not deny a sumptuous weekend in Paris at the expense of the ghastly old liar and cheat Fayed, the chairman of Harrods. Dinner each night for the MP and his wife cost the Harrods boss £232. How that figure must have delighted ‘scroungers’ in bed: breakfast accommodation so often mocked by Hamilton and his ilk.
The media have discovered something they call ‘parliamentary sleaze’. Yet this is one the most time honoured institutions of our mother of parliaments. Many and varied are the ways in which corporate power in capitalist society cuts down all semblance of representative democracy in parliaments and local councils, but the most obvious of them all is buying the representatives. If MPs are paid more by an ‘outside interest’ than by their constituents, then it follows that they will consider the interests of the corporation before those of their constituents. The MP for Loamshire (£31,000 a year) prefers to be the MP for Blue Blooded Merchant Bank plc (£50,000 a year and rising). Representation plays second fiddle to corporate public relations.
Before 1975 MPs didn’t even have to declare which firms paid them. The Poulson scandal of the late 1960s and 1970s revealed a clutch of MPs using questions, motions, dining rooms and debates to promote the interests of the corrupt architect. One MP had to resign, and the Register of Interests was set up. No one took much notice of it, even during the 1980s as the number of consultancies, directorships and perks showered on MPs, almost all of them Tory, rose to obscene levels. One Tory MP was so bemused by the way in which his colleagues were growing rich that he actually advertised for a company to take him on as a consultant. The private dining rooms of the House of Commons – why are there private dining rooms there anyway? – became a huge commercial undertaking whereby corporations offered their customers the best food and drink, all consumed in an intoxicating atmosphere of democracy. How wonderful to drink a toast to the hierarchs of the Hanson Trust after a glamorous dinner in the ancient seat of parliament!
By the mid-1980s the buying of MPs had become a public and obvious scandal. No one noticed. On and on it went, with the blessing of both prime ministers. Thatcher and Major both used 10 Downing Street as another watering hole to pour booze down the gullets of generous donors to the Tory Party:
If parliament was indeed composed of representatives there should be no ‘outside interests’ whatsoever, MPs should, get their salary and not a penny more. Their perks and trips abroad should be ruthlessly wiped out, and their activities subjected to the most rigorous public scrutiny and disclosure. That is what the new House of Commons Privileges Committee should recommend. But since the committee consists of seven Tory MPs, all with business interests, sitting in secret, the chances of even the mildest restrictions on rampant sleaze are spectacularly low. Paul Foot, article November 1994, ‘Parliamentary Privilege’
She was a princess, at one time second in line to the throne. And he was one of London’s most notorious and violent criminals. Together they would create one of the biggest hidden scandals in Royal history. One that if fully revealed at the time could have rocked the Monarchy to its foundations. The Princess and the Gangster, Channel 4 2011
This is the story of the secret relationship between the princess and the gangster. ibid.
The dream royal marriage had been a sham for nearly a decade with Margaret and Snowdon both having affairs. ibid.
Margaret was afforded a now unheard of level of privacy. ibid.
Mustique had a reputation as a hedonistic paradise. ibid.
With old-fashioned social boundaries blurring, in 1968 Bindon met the aristocratic society girl and daughter of a baronet, Vicki Hodge. ibid.
Bindon never let go of his criminal career. In 1974 Bindon was involved in a brutal street fight and was wanted by the police. ibid.
The gangsta from Fulham made a deep impression on her. ibid.
At the end of 1975 Bindon was invited a second time to Mustique where Margaret was to be there on holiday. ibid.
But Bindon didn’t stop at just talking about his friendship with the princess, he made it known that he was in possession of photographs featuring him with Margaret and began to meet with journalists who were offering money for them. ibid.
The gangsta was being monitored by Her Majesty’s security services. And Bindon, according to one of his former associates, was told what the consequences would be if he continued to be indiscreet about the princess. ibid.
Half-dead, Bindon fled to Dublin and went into hiding. But with the body of Darke warm on the floor the Met police were soon on the case. ibid.
In March 1978 John Bindon pleaded not guilty to the murder of John Darke. ibid.
From then on she faded into obscurity. ibid.
Bindon never worked as an actor again and effectively became a recluse. By the eighties his promiscuous sexual lifestyle had caught up with him and he was diagnosed with HIV. He died in 1993. ibid.
We had been run out of our own precinct. By the Hawaiians. The Comic Strip Presents ... s2e7: Slags, 1984
Squealer was running and they wanted to know why. They took him to Ricky, the leader of the Hawaiians. He was so healthy it made you sick. ibid.
Today, Britain’s most qualified criminal was released form Wandsworth Prison. While serving his sentence he has gained a staggering 428 educational qualifications. The Comic Strip Presents ... s3e5: Didn’t You Kill My Brother? 1988
The new policy is to integrate the old people’s society by letting them roam round the streets all day. ibid. probation officer
I wanna help people. I wanna find a cure for a serious disease. Or write some beautiful songs like John Denver. ibid.
It’s a post-modernist backlash: they don’t want sophistication. ibid. pub landlord
What’s he got against cheap villainy? It’s a man’s life. ibid. Carl’s brother
You should always put a dead badger on a head wound. ibid. mum to Sterling
Is there a pattern to criminality? Are there similarities between these gangs? Or are they solely products of their era? Gangs of Britain with Gary and Martin Kemp: Gangs of Britain overview, CI 2013
Manchester: Scuttlers, the first youth cult: they simply liked fighting. ibid.
Glasgow: Bridgeton: 19th century the Billy Boys. ibid.
Today there are still immigrant gangs around the country. ibid.
London Southall: 1970s Totti Nung ... poured all their money into heroin. ibid.
Birmingham 1970s: Johnson Crew v Burger Bar Boys. ibid.
Sheffield: 1920s Mooney Gang: game of Pitch & Toss. ibid.
Birmingham: 1920s Brummagems. ibid.
Liverpool 1980-90s: Curtis Warren ... an international drugs-smuggling ring. ibid.
London, Wapping: 1960s: Watney Streeters v Krays. ibid.
Manchester: 1990s – 2000s: Gooch Gang. ibid.