Jonathan Aitken
Encyclopedia
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 30 August 1942) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months. He is currently president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide
.
, daughter of John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby
. Aitken is a great-nephew of newspaper magnate and war-time minister Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
(Lord Beaverbrook). His sister is the actress Maria Aitken
and his nephew is the actor Jack Davenport
. He is godfather to James Abbott, the son of Labour
left-winger Diane Abbott
.
In 1999, DNA testing confirmed that Petrina Khashoggi, daughter of billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi
, was Aitken's biological child, the result of an affair with Soraya Khashoggi, née Sandra Daly, then wife of Adnan Khashoggi.
His other children include, twin daughters, Alexendra and Victoria Aitken, as well as his son William Aitken.
. His grandfather, Baron Rugby, was in 1939 the first British representative to the newly independent Irish state, at a time when Anglo-Irish relations were strained but improving. Aitken's baptism took place on 16 October 1942 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, an Anglican church, at which he was named "Jonathan William Patrick Aitken". The third name, "Patrick", was included at a late stage owing to the unexpected international importance of the occasion – one of the Irish papers reported "British envoy's grandson is a real Paddy". The Taoiseach
, Éamon de Valera
, who knew his grandparents, asked to attend the christening and his presence at the baptism symbolised improving Anglo-Irish relations. Also attending was Princess Juliana (later to become Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
) as his godmother
.
Aitken contracted tuberculosis
and when he was four years of age he was admitted to Cappagh Hospital, Dublin where he was an inpatient on a TB ward for more than three-and-a-half years, being cared for and educated by Catholic nuns. At that time, before the use of antibiotics for treating tuberculosis, his doctors were initially gloomy about his chances of survival or being able to walk again. His treatment included being strapped to a frame and a plaster cast to immobilise him, as well as participation in the routine of breathing fresh air outside on the terrace every morning. From time to time the death of one of the children was announced on the ward, but Aitken did not think that tuberculosis would be the cause of his own demise. He had a competitive spirit and wanted to recover before other children on the ward. His grandparents visited him regularly in hospital, and John Betjeman
, who was on his grandfather's staff as a press secretary, also visited him. At Aitken's grandparents' request, Betjeman visited partly to check that he was not being indoctrinated to Catholicism. During this time his mother was kept very busy looking after his father in England, who was severely injured as an RAF
pilot when his Spitfire
was shot down in World War II
, as well as visiting her family in Ireland and her son in hospital.
At Cappagh Hospital Aitken recovered and began to walk unsteadily. He was seven when he was discharged from the hospital and was sad to leave the hospital staff, especially the key nun involved in his care. After he was discharged he moved to Halesworth
, Suffolk, to live with his parents, and he learnt to walk properly again within a few months. His parents were often understandably concerned about his health and were worried about tuberculosis returning when he had a cold. Aitken's discharge from Cappagh Hospital, the ending of his grandfather's term of office in Ireland, and his father's discharge from hospital in England all took place at about the same time. His mother bought two houses near to each other in Halesworth not far from the sea. He spent a lot of time with his grandparents at the larger house, a double-fronted Georgian house known as "Quay House" with grounds that included a big garden containing a small nine-hole putting green, and a small cricket pitch on land on the other side of a river.
Aitken went to Eton College
and read law
at Christ Church, Oxford
. His career initially followed a similar path to the post-war career of his father, who became a journalist and then the Conservative Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds.
during the 1960s in Vietnam
and Biafra
, and gained a reputation for risk-taking when he took LSD
in 1966 as an experiment for an article in The London Evening Standard and had a bad trip
"..this drug needs police, the Home Office and a dictator to stamp it out..."
He was also a journalist at Yorkshire Television
from 1968 to 1970, presenting the regional news show Calendar
. Aitken was the first person to be seen on screen from Yorkshire Television when it started broadcasting.
In 1970 Aitken was acquitted at the Old Bailey
for breaching section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911
when he photocopied a report about the British government's supply of arms to Nigeria
, and sent a copy to The Sunday Telegraph and to Hugh Fraser
, a pro-Biafran Tory MP. As a result of the case he was dropped as a candidate for the Thirsk and Malton
parliamentary constituency.
In 1993 Aitken published a favourable biography, Nixon: A Life, of former US President
Richard Nixon
. Although his was not an authorised biography, Aitken was one of the few biographers from whom Nixon accepted questions and to whom he granted interviews.
in the February 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 Egypt
ian 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
(where he was involved in an incident in which broadcaster Anna Ford
threw her wine at him to express her outrage at both his behaviour and the unwelcome consequent transformation of the TV station).
for Defence Procurement
under John Major in 1992. He was later accused of violating ministerial rules by allowing an Arab
businessman to pay for his stay in the Paris Ritz
, perjured himself and was jailed (see below).
Aitken had previously been a director of BMARC
, an arms exporter, from 1988 to 1990. In 1995 a commons motion showed that which minister he had signed a controversial Public Interest Immunity
Certificate (PIIC) certificate in September 1992 relating to the Matrix Churchill trial; and that the 'gagged' documents included ones relating to the supply of arms to Iraq by BMARC for a period when he was a director of the company.
in 1994, a Cabinet
position, but resigned in 1995 following the allegations that he had violated ministerial rules.
He was defeated in the 1997 election. Within a year he had be appointed as a representative for the arms company GEC-Marconi. (part of BAE Systems
since November 1999).
carried a front-page report on Aitken's dealings with leading Saudis. The story was the result of a long investigation carried out by journalist
s from the newspaper and from Granada TV's World In Action
programme.
Aitken had called a press conference at the Conservative Party offices in Smith Square
, London, at 5 o'clock denouncing the claims and demanding that the World In Action documentary, which was due to be screened three hours later, withdraw them. He notoriously said:
The World In Action film, Jonathan of Arabia, went ahead and Aitken carried out his threat to sue. The action collapsed in June 1997 (a month after he had lost his seat in the 1997 General Election
) when the Guardian and Granada produced, via their counsel George Carman
QC
, evidence countering his claim that his wife, Lolicia Aitken, paid for the hotel stay. The evidence consisted of airline vouchers and other documents showing that his wife had, in fact, been in Switzerland at the time when she had allegedly been at the Ritz in Paris. The joint Guardian/Granada investigation indicated an 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
. It was alleged that Aitken had been prepared to have his teenage daughter Victoria lie under oath to support his version of events had the case continued.
A few days after the libel case collapsed, World In Action broadcast a special edition, which echoed Aitken's "sword of truth" speech. It was entitled The Dagger of Deceit.
During this time it emerged that when Aitken was being encouraged to resign, he was chairman of the secretive right wing think-tank Le Cercle
, alleged by Alan Clark
to be funded by the CIA.
, and in 1999 was jailed for 18 months, of which he served seven. During the preceding libel trial, his wife Lolicia, who later left him, was called as a witness 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, investigative work by Guardian reporters into Swiss hotel and British Airways
records showed that neither his daughter nor his wife had been in Paris at the time in question.
Aitken was unable to cover the legal costs of his libel trial 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
. Aitken's wife and three daughters - twins Victoria and Alexandra Aitken and Petrina Khashoggi - turned up to support him when he was sentenced. Petrina was a previously unacknowledged daughter by Soraya Khashoggi, ex-wife of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. On DNA
testing at the age of 18, she had turned out to be Aitken's, though Khashoggi had previously accepted her as his own.
To date [July 2011], Aitken is the only British Cabinet minister ever to have been sent to jail.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2014861/Why-powerful-figures-hit-self-destruct-button-Cabinet-minister-end-jail.html
in 1997, which he claims stirred his interest in Christianity. He attended the course on further occasions prior to imprisonment. After being imprisoned in 1999, he began to study the Bible
, learned Greek
, and became a student of Christian theology
at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
. 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.
Aitken's claim that he had found God initially met with some scepticism, and he said that he would not become a vicar because he is not worthy of the office and "wouldn't like to give dog-collars
a bad name".
In 2006 Aitken became honorary president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide
.
On Sunday 13 July 2008 he gave a sermon at King's Church International in Windsor entitled "Finding God in the Depths". Senior Pastor Wes Richards introduced his coming as a great privilege and described Aitken as a friend both to himself and the church.
.
Aitken later confirmed that he would not attempt a return to Parliament
, saying that "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".
Aitken later declared his support for the United Kingdom Independence Party
(UKIP) a week before the party's strong performance in the 2004 European elections
. On 2 October 2004, Aitken attended the (UKIP) conference and re-iterated his support for the party.
Ashley Merry, Veritas Party
defence spokesman, is public relations
advisor to Aitken.
In November 2007, with the approval of senior members of the Shadow Cabinet
, he took charge of a task force on prison reform
within Iain Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice
to help formulate Conservative policy. Aitken stated this was not part of a political comeback. Conservative spokesmen pointed out that the task force is independent of the party, even though the organisation is run by Iain Duncan Smith
, who is a former Tory leader. The report Locked Up Potential: A Strategy to Reform our Prisons and Rehabilitate our Prisoners was published in March 2009.
and is a popular Christian writer.
(1725–1807), with the title, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Crossway Books).
In April 2008, The Observer
's diary reported that Aitken was writing a biography
of the President of Kazakhstan
, Nursultan Nazarbayev
, with the president's cooperation. Aitken completed the biography and published it in 2009, under the title Nazarbayev and the Making of Kazakhstan.
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Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Christian Solidarity Worldwide is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all. Its current president is Jonathan Aitken, having taken over from Baroness Cox in 2006...
.
Family
Aitken's parents were Sir William Aitken, a former Conservative MP, and Penelope AitkenPenelope Aitken
Penelope Loader, Lady Aitken, MBE , styled The Honorable Lady Aitken and nicknamed 'Pempe', was an English socialite.-Biography:...
, daughter of John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby
John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby
John Loader Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby, GCMG, KCB, KCVO, CSI, CIE was a British civil servant.Maffey was the younger son of Thomas Maffey, a commercial traveller of Rugby, Warwickshire, and his wife Mary Penelope, daughter of John Loader...
. Aitken is a great-nephew of newspaper magnate and war-time minister Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Bt, PC, was a Canadian-British business tycoon, politician, and writer.-Early career in Canada:...
(Lord Beaverbrook). His sister is the actress Maria Aitken
Maria Aitken
Maria Penelope Katharine Aitken is an English actress, writer, producer and director.Aitken was born in Dublin, the daughter of Sir William Aitken, a Conservative MP, and socialite Penelope Aitken, whose father was John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby. She is a great-niece of newspaper magnate and...
and his nephew is the actor Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport is an English actor, best known for his roles in the television series This Life, Coupling and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also appeared in many other Hollywood films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley...
. He is godfather to James Abbott, the son of Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
left-winger Diane Abbott
Diane Abbott
Diane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons...
.
In 1999, DNA testing confirmed that Petrina Khashoggi, daughter of billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi
Adnan Khashoggi
Adnan Khashoggi is a Saudi Arabian arms-dealer and businessman. He is also noted for his engagements with high society in both the Occident and Arabic-speaking worlds, and for his involvement in the Iran–Contra and Lockheed bribery scandals, and numerous other affairs...
, was Aitken's biological child, the result of an affair with Soraya Khashoggi, née Sandra Daly, then wife of Adnan Khashoggi.
His other children include, twin daughters, Alexendra and Victoria Aitken, as well as his son William Aitken.
Early life
Aitken was born in Dublin, IrelandRepublic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. His grandfather, Baron Rugby, was in 1939 the first British representative to the newly independent Irish state, at a time when Anglo-Irish relations were strained but improving. Aitken's baptism took place on 16 October 1942 at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, an Anglican church, at which he was named "Jonathan William Patrick Aitken". The third name, "Patrick", was included at a late stage owing to the unexpected international importance of the occasion – one of the Irish papers reported "British envoy's grandson is a real Paddy". The Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
, Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
, who knew his grandparents, asked to attend the christening and his presence at the baptism symbolised improving Anglo-Irish relations. Also attending was Princess Juliana (later to become Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
Juliana of the Netherlands
Juliana was the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1948 and 1980. She was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry...
) as his godmother
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
.
Aitken contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and when he was four years of age he was admitted to Cappagh Hospital, Dublin where he was an inpatient on a TB ward for more than three-and-a-half years, being cared for and educated by Catholic nuns. At that time, before the use of antibiotics for treating tuberculosis, his doctors were initially gloomy about his chances of survival or being able to walk again. His treatment included being strapped to a frame and a plaster cast to immobilise him, as well as participation in the routine of breathing fresh air outside on the terrace every morning. From time to time the death of one of the children was announced on the ward, but Aitken did not think that tuberculosis would be the cause of his own demise. He had a competitive spirit and wanted to recover before other children on the ward. His grandparents visited him regularly in hospital, and John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
, who was on his grandfather's staff as a press secretary, also visited him. At Aitken's grandparents' request, Betjeman visited partly to check that he was not being indoctrinated to Catholicism. During this time his mother was kept very busy looking after his father in England, who was severely injured as an RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
pilot when his Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
was shot down in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as well as visiting her family in Ireland and her son in hospital.
At Cappagh Hospital Aitken recovered and began to walk unsteadily. He was seven when he was discharged from the hospital and was sad to leave the hospital staff, especially the key nun involved in his care. After he was discharged he moved to Halesworth
Halesworth
Halesworth is a small market town in the northeastern corner of Suffolk, England. It is located south west of Lowestoft, and straddles the River Blyth, 9 miles upstream from Southwold. The town is served by Halesworth railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line...
, Suffolk, to live with his parents, and he learnt to walk properly again within a few months. His parents were often understandably concerned about his health and were worried about tuberculosis returning when he had a cold. Aitken's discharge from Cappagh Hospital, the ending of his grandfather's term of office in Ireland, and his father's discharge from hospital in England all took place at about the same time. His mother bought two houses near to each other in Halesworth not far from the sea. He spent a lot of time with his grandparents at the larger house, a double-fronted Georgian house known as "Quay House" with grounds that included a big garden containing a small nine-hole putting green, and a small cricket pitch on land on the other side of a river.
Aitken went to Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and read law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
. His career initially followed a similar path to the post-war career of his father, who became a journalist and then the Conservative Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds.
Journalist
He served as a war correspondentWar correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
during the 1960s in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Biafra
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
, and gained a reputation for risk-taking when he took LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
in 1966 as an experiment for an article in The London Evening Standard and had a bad trip
Bad trip
Bad trip is a disturbing experience sometimes associated with use of a psychedelic drug such as LSD, Salvinorin A, DXM, mescaline, psilocybin, DMT and sometimes even other drugs including cannabis, alcohol and MDMA....
"..this drug needs police, the Home Office and a dictator to stamp it out..."
He was also a journalist at Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
from 1968 to 1970, presenting the regional news show Calendar
Calendar (News)
Calendar is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Yorkshire at its studios in Leeds, serving Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and parts of the North Midlands and North West Norfolk...
. Aitken was the first person to be seen on screen from Yorkshire Television when it started broadcasting.
In 1970 Aitken was acquitted at the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
for breaching section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911
Official Secrets Act 1911
The Official Secrets Act 1911 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaces the Official Secrets Act 1889....
when he photocopied a report about the British government's supply of arms to Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, and sent a copy to The Sunday Telegraph and to Hugh Fraser
Hugh Fraser (politician)
Major Sir Hugh Charles Patrick Joseph Fraser MBE was a British Conservative politician and first husband of the author Lady Antonia Fraser.-Youth and military career:...
, a pro-Biafran Tory MP. As a result of the case he was dropped as a candidate for the Thirsk and Malton
Thirsk and Malton (UK Parliament constituency)
Thirsk and Malton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
parliamentary constituency.
In 1993 Aitken published a favourable biography, Nixon: A Life, of former US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. Although his was not an authorised biography, Aitken was one of the few biographers from whom Nixon accepted questions and to whom he granted interviews.
Parliamentary career
He was elected as MP for Thanet EastThanet East (UK Parliament constituency)
Thanet East was a British parliamentary constituency in the Isle of Thanet, in Kent. It consisted of the coastal towns of Ramsgate and Broadstairs.Jonathan Aitken was the MP for the lifetime of the constituency, from February 1974 until 1983.-History:...
in the February 1974 General Election; from 1983 he sat for South Thanet. A notably handsome man, he managed to offend Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
by ending a relationship with her daughter, Carol Thatcher
Carol Thatcher
Carol Thatcher is a British journalist, author and media personality. She is the daughter of Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, a former British Prime Minister, and Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt....
, and suggesting that Thatcher "probably thinks Sinai
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...
is the plural of Sinus
Sinus (anatomy)
Sinus is Latin for "bay", "pocket", "curve", or "bosom". In anatomy, the term is used in various contexts.A sinus is a sack or cavity in any organ or tissue, or an abnormal cavity or passage caused by the destruction of tissue...
" to an Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian newspaper. He stayed on the backbenches
Backbencher
In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislator who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition...
throughout Thatcher's premiership and engaged in a number of activities, including participation in the re-launch of TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
(where he was involved in an incident in which broadcaster Anna Ford
Anna Ford
Anna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
threw her wine at him to express her outrage at both his behaviour and the unwelcome consequent transformation of the TV station).
Minister of State for Defence Procurement
Aitken became Minister of StateMinister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
for Defence Procurement
Defence Procurement Agency
The Defence Procurement Agency , was an Executive Agency of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence responsible for the acquisition of materiel, equipment and services, for the British armed forces....
under John Major in 1992. He was later accused of violating ministerial rules by allowing an Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
businessman to pay for his stay in the Paris Ritz
Hôtel Ritz Paris
The Hôtel Ritz is a grand palatial hotel in the heart of Paris, the 1st arrondissement. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15...
, perjured himself and was jailed (see below).
Aitken had previously been a director of BMARC
BMARC
BMARC was a UK-based firm designing and producing defence products, particularly aircraft cannon and naval anti-aircraft cannon...
, an arms exporter, from 1988 to 1990. In 1995 a commons motion showed that which minister he had signed a controversial Public Interest Immunity
Public Interest Immunity
Public-interest immunity is a principle of English common law under which the English courts can grant a court order allowing one litigant to refrain from disclosing evidence to the other litigants where disclosure would be damaging to the public interest...
Certificate (PIIC) certificate in September 1992 relating to the Matrix Churchill trial; and that the 'gagged' documents included ones relating to the supply of arms to Iraq by BMARC for a period when he was a director of the company.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
He became Chief Secretary to the TreasuryChief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the third most senior ministerial position in HM Treasury, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer . In recent years, the office holder has usually been given a junior position in the British Cabinet...
in 1994, a Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
position, but resigned in 1995 following the allegations that he had violated ministerial rules.
He was defeated in the 1997 election. Within a year he had be appointed as a representative for the arms company GEC-Marconi. (part of BAE Systems
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...
since November 1999).
Libel action
On 10 April 1995, The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
carried a front-page report on Aitken's dealings with leading Saudis. The story was the result of a long investigation carried out by journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s from the newspaper and from Granada TV's World In Action
World in Action
World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...
programme.
Aitken had called a press conference at the Conservative Party offices in Smith Square
Smith Square
Smith Square is a square in the Westminster district of London, just south of the Palace of Westminster. The centre of the square is occupied by St John's, Smith Square, a Baroque church now used as a concert hall...
, London, at 5 o'clock denouncing the claims and demanding that the World In Action documentary, which was due to be screened three hours later, withdraw them. He notoriously said:
- "If it falls to me to start a fight to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism in our country with the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play, so be it. I am ready for the fight. The fight against falsehood and those who peddle it. My fight begins today. Thank you and good afternoon."
The World In Action film, Jonathan of Arabia, went ahead and Aitken carried out his threat to sue. The action collapsed in June 1997 (a month after he had lost his seat in the 1997 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
) when the Guardian and Granada produced, via their counsel George Carman
George Carman
George Alfred Carman, QC , was a leading English barrister of the 1980s and 1990s. He first came to the attention of the general public in 1979, when he successfully defended the former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe after he was charged with conspiracy to murder...
QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
, evidence countering his claim that his wife, Lolicia Aitken, paid for the hotel stay. The evidence consisted of airline vouchers and other documents showing that his wife had, in fact, been in Switzerland at the time when she had allegedly been at the Ritz in Paris. The joint Guardian/Granada investigation indicated an arms deal scam involving Aitken's friend and business partner, the Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
businessman Mohammed Said Ayas, a close associate of Prince Mohammed of Saudi Arabia
Muhammad bin Fahd
Muhammad bin Fahd bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is Governor of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. He is a business partner of Al-Bilal Trading Company - a major conglomerate associated with construction and imports.-Early life and education:...
. It was alleged that Aitken had been prepared to have his teenage daughter Victoria lie under oath to support his version of events had the case continued.
A few days after the libel case collapsed, World In Action broadcast a special edition, which echoed Aitken's "sword of truth" speech. It was entitled The Dagger of Deceit.
During this time it emerged that when Aitken was being encouraged to resign, he was chairman of the secretive right wing think-tank Le Cercle
Le Cercle
Le Cercle is a foreign policy think-tank specialising in international security. Set up after World War II, the group has members from twenty-five countries and meets at least bi-annually, in Washington, D.C....
, alleged by Alan Clark
Alan Clark
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative MP and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade, and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991...
to be funded by the CIA.
Perjury conviction and imprisonment
Aitken was charged with perjury and perverting the course of justicePerverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian , and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party...
, and in 1999 was jailed for 18 months, of which he served seven. During the preceding libel trial, his wife Lolicia, who later left him, was called as a witness 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, investigative work by Guardian reporters into Swiss hotel and British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
records showed that neither his daughter nor his wife had been in Paris at the time in question.
Aitken was unable to cover the legal costs of his libel trial 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
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
. Aitken's wife and three daughters - twins Victoria and Alexandra Aitken and Petrina Khashoggi - turned up to support him when he was sentenced. Petrina was a previously unacknowledged daughter by Soraya Khashoggi, ex-wife of arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. On DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
testing at the age of 18, she had turned out to be Aitken's, though Khashoggi had previously accepted her as his own.
To date [July 2011], Aitken is the only British Cabinet minister ever to have been sent to jail.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2014861/Why-powerful-figures-hit-self-destruct-button-Cabinet-minister-end-jail.html
Prison stay and theology study
Aitken attended the Alpha CourseAlpha course
The Alpha course is a course which seeks to explore the basics of the Christian faith, described as "an opportunity to explore the meaning of life" . Alpha courses are currently being run in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and a wide variety of other locations...
in 1997, which he claims stirred his interest in Christianity. He attended the course on further occasions prior to imprisonment. After being imprisoned in 1999, he began to study the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, learned Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, and became a student of Christian theology
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. 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
Elizabeth Rees-Williams
Joan Elizabeth Rees-Williams, The Hon. Mrs. Aitken , is a Welsh socialite. She had two film roles around her early 40s.She was born in Cardiff, daughter of the politician David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore....
, in June 2003.
Aitken's claim that he had found God initially met with some scepticism, and he said that he would not become a vicar because he is not worthy of the office and "wouldn't like to give dog-collars
Clerical collar
A clerical collar is an item of Christian clerical clothing. It is a detachable collar that buttons onto a clergy shirt or rabbat , being fastened by two metal studs, one attached at the front and one at the back to hold the collar to the shirt. The collar closes at the back of the neck, presenting...
a bad name".
In 2006 Aitken became honorary president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Christian Solidarity Worldwide is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all. Its current president is Jonathan Aitken, having taken over from Baroness Cox in 2006...
.
On Sunday 13 July 2008 he gave a sermon at King's Church International in Windsor entitled "Finding God in the Depths". Senior Pastor Wes Richards introduced his coming as a great privilege and described Aitken as a friend both to himself and the church.
Political comebacks
In early 2004, some constituency party members in Aitken's former seat of South Thanet proposed that he should return as Conservative candidate for the seat. This was vetoed by Conservative Party leader Michael HowardMichael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
.
Aitken later confirmed that he would not attempt a return to Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, saying that "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".
Aitken later declared his support for the United Kingdom Independence Party
United Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
(UKIP) a week before the party's strong performance in the 2004 European elections
European Parliament election, 2004
Elections to the European Parliament were held from 10 June 2004 to 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom...
. On 2 October 2004, Aitken attended the (UKIP) conference and re-iterated his support for the party.
Ashley Merry, Veritas Party
Veritas (political party)
Veritas is a political party in the United Kingdom, formed in February 2005 at Hinckley golf club by politician-celebrity Robert Kilroy-Silk following a split from the United Kingdom Independence Party . Kilroy-Silk served as party leader from formation, through the 2005 General Election, until...
defence spokesman, is public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
advisor to Aitken.
In November 2007, with the approval of senior members of the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
, he took charge of a task force on prison reform
Prison reform
Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, aiming at a more effective penal system.-History:Prisons have only been used as the primary punishment for criminal acts in the last couple of centuries...
within Iain Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice
Centre for Social Justice
The Centre for Social Justice is an independent, not-for-profit thinktank set up by the Rt. Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, to advance the education of the public in the subject of social justice and to promote the role of the voluntary sector...
to help formulate Conservative policy. Aitken stated this was not part of a political comeback. Conservative spokesmen pointed out that the task force is independent of the party, even though the organisation is run by Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
George Iain Duncan Smith is a British Conservative politician. He is currently the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and was previously leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to October 2003...
, who is a former Tory leader. The report Locked Up Potential: A Strategy to Reform our Prisons and Rehabilitate our Prisoners was published in March 2009.
Present employment
Jonathan Aitken is currently the honorary president of Christian Solidarity WorldwideChristian Solidarity Worldwide
Christian Solidarity Worldwide is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all. Its current president is Jonathan Aitken, having taken over from Baroness Cox in 2006...
and is a popular Christian writer.
Works
In 2007, Aitken published a biography of the English sailor and Anglican clergyman John NewtonJohn Newton
John Henry Newton was a British sailor and Anglican clergyman. Starting his career on the sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of...
(1725–1807), with the title, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Crossway Books).
In April 2008, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
's diary reported that Aitken was writing a biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of the President of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, Nursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev has served as the President of Kazakhstan since the nation received its independence in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union...
, with the president's cooperation. Aitken completed the biography and published it in 2009, under the title Nazarbayev and the Making of Kazakhstan.
External links
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