Max Clifford
Encyclopedia
Maxwell Frank Clifford is an English
publicist
, considered the highest-profile and best-known publicist in the United Kingdom. Although his client range is varied, he is a controversial figure for often representing unpopular clients (such as those accused or convicted of crimes) and acting as an agent to people selling "kiss-and-tell" stories to tabloid
newspaper
s.
A traditional Labour
supporter, Clifford openly vowed to bring down the government of John Major
because he personally felt that the National Health Service
was mismanaged, having dealt with the NHS in attempting to obtain treatment for his daughter, who has juvenile idiopathic arthritis
. While he is primarily known for helping to bring damaging allegations to light, he insists that today most of his work is concerned with concealment of stories.
, Surrey
in 1943. His parents were Frank Clifford, an electrician
, and Lilian (née Boffee). Born into a poor family, Clifford was the youngest of four children (eldest sister, two brothers) by nearly 10 years to his next sibling. The family survived their father's regular bouts of unemployment
, gambling
and alcoholism
through handouts from their grandmother and latterly from his sister's employment as PA to the London Vice President of Morgan Guarantee Trust Bank
.
Leaving school at 15 with no qualifications, and after being sacked within four months of his first job at Ely's department store in Wimbledon
, Clifford's brother Bernard used his print union connections to gain Clifford a job as editorial assistant on the Eagle
comic. When the publication moved premises, Clifford took redundancy and bought his first house and gained work with the South London Press
company to train as a journalist
.
, Clifford replied to an advertisement and joined as the second member of the EMI
press office in 1962, under Chief Press Officer Syd Gillingham. As the youngest and the only trained journalist in a team of four, Clifford claims he was given the job of promoting an unknown and unwanted group called The Beatles
early in their career, including of their first tour of the United States.
After Gillingham left EMI, he asked Clifford to join him at Chris Hutchins' PR agency. Among the artists they represented were Paul
and Barry Ryan
, who introduced Clifford to their stepfather, impresario
Harold Davidson
who handled the UK affairs of Frank Sinatra
and Judy Garland
.
In 1970 aged 27, and after Gillingham retired, Clifford left Hutchins and started his own agency named Max Clifford Associates. Based in the offices of Joe Cocker
's manager, he started off by representing Sinatra, Cocker, Paul and Barry Ryan, Don Partridge
, and Marvin Gaye
. He later also represented Muhammad Ali
and Marlon Brando
.
On 13 March 1986, The Sun
carried as its main headline: "FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER" - one of the most famous British tabloid newspaper headlines of all time. According to the story invented by Clifford, Starr
had been staying at the home of Vince McCaffrey (who was co-writing Starr's biography at the time), and his 23-year-old girlfriend Lea La Salle in Birchwood
, Warrington
, Cheshire
when the incident took place. Starr was alleged to have returned home from a performance at a Manchester
nightclub in the small hours of the morning and demanded that La Salle make him a sandwich
. When she refused, he went into the kitchen and put her pet hamster
, 'Supersonic', between two slices of bread and proceeded to eat it.
Clifford counter spun the story the next day, when he flew with a journalist from The Sun to Starr's home in Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire
with another hamster the newspaper had called Sandwich, which was photographed with claimed vegetarian Starr. Starr now admits in interviews that this story was untrue, but brought him much-needed publicity for his forthcoming tour.
The story was one of the first examples where, rather than PR agents managing what went into the media or confirming a journalist's storyline, Clifford created a fast-selling story which he sold to the media, and its counter line follow-up. As a result, it brought Clifford to the British public's attention. Clifford and Starr ended their connection shortly afterwards, and Clifford later used background material to fuel the media storylines around Starr's later revelations during his divorce of wife battering
, alcoholism, and drug taking.
. Clifford asked the madam to reveal details of her girls and clients, and found that one prostitute, Pamella Bordes
, was simultaneously dating: Andrew Neil
(then editor of The Sunday Times
); Donald Trelford
(then editor of The Observer
); Conservative minister for sport Colin Moynihan
and billionaire
arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi
. Clifford rang News of the World editor Patsy Chapman
and drip-fed her the story of Bordes through the investigative reporter she was using on the madam. The story, published in March 1989 under the headline "CALL GIRL WORKS IN COMMONS", created a near Christine Keeler
-like image for Bordes when it went to press, since it was discovered she had a House of Commons security pass arranged by MPs David Shaw
and Henry Bellingham. Clifford claims Bordes was never his client, and that he earned his fee for "writing" the story, which ultimately served the purpose of avoiding the madam any adverse publicity or court case.
to ask questions in the House of Commons in the now notorious 'cash-for-questions' scandal, Fayed and Hamilton became high profile enemies when the latter revealed the fact during a court case. Shortly after Fayed retained Clifford, Hamilton and his wife Christine
were both arrested on rape
charges which were later found to be false. Clifford subsequently paid the Hamiltons an undisclosed sum in damages on behalf of the third party accuser.
; Mohamed Al-Fayed
; Simon Cowell
; brain-damaged boxer Michael Watson
; Liverpool
left-wing politician Derek Hatton
, for whom Clifford created an affair
in order to change his image; former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson
; Norfolk
farmer Tony Martin
, who was imprisoned for fatally shooting a burglar; Rebecca Loos
, when she negotiated with the press about her alleged affair with England football captain David Beckham
; Cheryl Cole
; Celebrity Big Brother 2007 winner Shilpa Shetty
; and Jade Goody
, in the period of the reality star's cervical cancer
and death.
Clifford represents Gillian McKeith
, saying of her doctorate in nutrition potentially being misconstrued as a medical degree by viewers of her advertisements: "personally, I wish it had never been mentioned. She never needed it, and it's done nothing but cause her embarrassment."
Reporter Louis Theroux
followed Clifford in the BBC Two
2002 programme When Louis Met... Max Clifford. During filming, it appeared that Clifford was trying to set up Theroux during a PR stunt in Sainsbury's. It backfired after Clifford was heard on his microphone lying, unaware it was still on. Clifford is regarded as being one of the shrewdest practitioners of his trade, and in July 2005 he told reporters that he would not represent Michael Jackson
after he was found innocent of child abuse
charges, saying: "It would be the hardest job in PR after [representing] Saddam Hussein
".
their sexual orientation
from the public. Clifford claimed that he has been approached twice by major football clubs to help make players present a "straight" image. In an interview with Pink News
reported on 5 August 2009, Clifford said that if a gay
football player came out
, his career would be over: “To my knowledge there is only one top-flight professional gay footballer who came out - Justin Fashanu
. He ended up committing suicide
. I have been advising a top premiership star who is bisexual. If it came out that he had gay tendencies, his career would be over in two minutes. Should it be? No, but if you go on the terraces and hear the way fans are, and also, that kind of general attitude that goes with football, it’s almost like going back to the dark ages.” Clifford has said so far none of his clients have been outed
.
In December 2009, he told The Independent on Sunday that he has represented two high-profile gay Premier League footballers in the past five years and has advised them to stay in the closet because football "remains in the dark ages, steeped in homophobia
".
's affair with Antonia de Sancha
, Clifford's battle in representing de Sancha against the contrived post-spin story of the "family man Mellor" handled by counter PR Tim Bell ultimately derailed Major's 'Back to Basics
' agenda. Clifford invented the story which claimed Mellor made love in Chelsea F.C.
football kit, though he was blocked from mentioning it in his memoir
s. Clifford also helped to expose Jeffrey Archer's perjury
in the 1980s during his candidacy for the post of Mayor of London
.
In 2005, Clifford paid damages to settle defamation proceedings brought by Neil and Christine Hamilton after he represented a woman who was later found to have falsely accused the Hamiltons of sexual assault
.
government was similar to that which he employed with Major's preceding Conservative government. The first instance of this was the story of Welsh Assembly leader Ron Davies. Then Clifford was accused by David Blunkett
at the beginning of November 2005 of having a role in his second resignation. This derived from claims made on behalf of a much younger woman, who had become involved with Blunkett, over Blunkett's business interests, which were published in The Times
. Later that week Clifford was accused of arranging a distraction from the assault made by his friend Rebekah Wade
on her husband, EastEnders
actor Ross Kemp
, via the "coincidence" of the other "Mitchell brother
", Steve McFadden
being in a similar incident with an ex-partner. Clifford denied all responsibility.
On 26 April 2006, Clifford represented John Prescott
's diary secretary Tracey Temple, in selling her story for "an awful lot more" than £
100,000 to the Mail on Sunday
. The story was about the two year affair between Prescott and Temple which took place between 2002 and 2004.
On 4 May 2006, Clifford announced his intention to expose politicians who fail to abide by the standards expected of them in public office. He called his team of undercover investigators "a dedicated and loyal bunch".
gameshow The Weakest Link
who was a prostitute turned to Clifford for help with tabloid harassment: he did not charge her because he claimed he felt sorry for her. He also worked without fee for Martyn and Kay Tott, who tried to get £3m from Camelot
on the winning lottery
ticket they bought and mislaid.
Clifford has received death threats demanding that he sever links with the five men who were suspected of the killing of black teenager Stephen Lawrence
. He says he has never represented them, but had merely put them in touch with ITV
interviewer Martin Bashir
. He also received death threats when he represented O.J. Simpson during his trial.
reported that they had received an email from the law firm Carter Ruck, acting on behalf of Clifford and threatening them with an injunction over their film.
, London on 3 June 1967. Elizabeth died in Sutton
, Greater London
on 8 March 2003, nine months after being diagnosed with lung cancer
; the couple had been together for 40 years. Their only child, daughter Louise (born 1 June 1971), has lived with juvenile idiopathic arthritis
since childhood. They live in Walton-on-Thames
, Surrey.
On 4 April 2010, Clifford married his former PA Jo Westwood; guests included Des O'Connor
, Bobby Davro
and Theo Paphitis
.
On 17 April 2008, Clifford announced on ITV1's This Morning
show that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer
six months previously. After treatment, his cancer went into remission 12 months later.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Clifford ran and took part in discreet weekly adult birthday parties for his friends and clients in South London. This brought him into contact with various madam
s and prostitutes, a connection which still serves him well in his business to satisfy the often bizarre needs of his clients, as well as an early warning system of interesting behaviour of various persons.
A life-long fan of Jaguar cars, after owning a Bentley Arnage T
, he now drives a Rolls-Royce Ghost.
in public life, and reserves a particular disgust for lying politicians, and watched with growing anger what he thought happened to the health service over the past 20 years. For this reason, and because of his working class
background, Clifford is a traditional Labour supporter who worked to bring down the government of Major because he felt that the National Health Service
was being mismanaged.
at the age of 46 as a result of early life brain scarring and was banned from driving for 12 months as a result. He does a considerable amount of fund-raising and media work for a children's hospice at the Royal Marsden Hospital of which he is a patron. He also handled the publicity for the Daniels family and helped set up the Rhys Daniels Trust from resultant media fees to combat Batten's Disease.
Clifford is also a patron of the Chertsey
, Surrey based radio station Hospital Radio Wey. As of Summer 2010 he is the Vice President of Young Epilepsy.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
publicist
Publicist
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album...
, considered the highest-profile and best-known publicist in the United Kingdom. Although his client range is varied, he is a controversial figure for often representing unpopular clients (such as those accused or convicted of crimes) and acting as an agent to people selling "kiss-and-tell" stories to tabloid
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s.
A traditional 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...
supporter, Clifford openly vowed to bring down the government of John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
because he personally felt that the National Health Service
National Health Service (England)
The National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
was mismanaged, having dealt with the NHS in attempting to obtain treatment for his daughter, who has juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is the most common form of persistent arthritis in children. JIA is a subset of arthritis seen in childhood, which may be transient and...
. While he is primarily known for helping to bring damaging allegations to light, he insists that today most of his work is concerned with concealment of stories.
Early life
Maxwell Frank Clifford was born in Kingston upon ThamesKingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
in 1943. His parents were Frank Clifford, an electrician
Electrician
An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...
, and Lilian (née Boffee). Born into a poor family, Clifford was the youngest of four children (eldest sister, two brothers) by nearly 10 years to his next sibling. The family survived their father's regular bouts of unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
, gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
and alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
through handouts from their grandmother and latterly from his sister's employment as PA to the London Vice President of Morgan Guarantee Trust Bank
Morgan, Grenfell & Co.
Morgan, Grenfell & Co. was a leading London-based investment bank regarded as one of the oldest and once most influential British merchant banks.-History:...
.
Leaving school at 15 with no qualifications, and after being sacked within four months of his first job at Ely's department store in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
, Clifford's brother Bernard used his print union connections to gain Clifford a job as editorial assistant on the Eagle
Eagle (comic)
Eagle was a seminal British children's comic, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating...
comic. When the publication moved premises, Clifford took redundancy and bought his first house and gained work with the South London Press
South London Press
The South London Press is a bi-weekly tabloid newspaper based in Streatham, South London, covering local news within the London boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and Wandsworth....
company to train as a 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...
.
Early work as a publicist
After working in newspapers for a few years, writing an occasional record/music column and running a discoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, Clifford replied to an advertisement and joined as the second member of the EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
press office in 1962, under Chief Press Officer Syd Gillingham. As the youngest and the only trained journalist in a team of four, Clifford claims he was given the job of promoting an unknown and unwanted group called The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
early in their career, including of their first tour of the United States.
After Gillingham left EMI, he asked Clifford to join him at Chris Hutchins' PR agency. Among the artists they represented were Paul
Paul Ryan (singer)
Paul Ryan was an English singer, songwriter and record producer.Born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Paul and his twin brother Barry were the sons of singer Marion Ryan, and had some success as a singing duo during the 1960s, known simply as "Paul & Barry Ryan"...
and Barry Ryan
Barry Ryan (singer)
Barry Ryan was an English pop singer. He is currently a photographer.The son of pop singer Marion Ryan, Ryan and his twin brother Paul began to perform at the age of 16...
, who introduced Clifford to their stepfather, impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
Harold Davidson
Harold Davidson
Harold Francis Davidson , sometimes known as the "Prostitutes' Padre", was a Church of England priest, often referred to as the "Rector of Stiffkey". In 1932 he was defrocked on charges of immorality...
who handled the UK affairs of Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
.
In 1970 aged 27, and after Gillingham retired, Clifford left Hutchins and started his own agency named Max Clifford Associates. Based in the offices of Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
's manager, he started off by representing Sinatra, Cocker, Paul and Barry Ryan, Don Partridge
Don Partridge
Donald Eric Partridge was an English singer and songwriter, known as the "king of the buskers". He performed from the early 1960s as a busker and one-man band, and achieved unexpected commercial success in the UK in the late 1960s with the songs "Rosie" and "Blue Eyes".-Life and musical career:Don...
, and Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
. He later also represented Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
and Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
.
Freddie Starr
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
carried as its main headline: "FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER" - one of the most famous British tabloid newspaper headlines of all time. According to the story invented by Clifford, Starr
Freddie Starr
Freddie Starr is an English comedian who became famous in the early 1970s. He is also an impressionist and singer, with a chart album After the Laughter and UK Top 10 single, "It's You", in March 1974 to his credit.-Early career:Under his real name, he appeared as a teenager in the film Violent...
had been staying at the home of Vince McCaffrey (who was co-writing Starr's biography at the time), and his 23-year-old girlfriend Lea La Salle in Birchwood
Birchwood
Birchwood is a civil parish in the north-eastern part of Warrington, Cheshire, England with a population of 11,395 . Historically a part of Lancashire, it is the easternmost part of the Warrington urban area. It was built during the time of much expansion in Warrington as it became a "new town"...
, Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
when the incident took place. Starr was alleged to have returned home from a performance at a Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
nightclub in the small hours of the morning and demanded that La Salle make him a sandwich
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...
. When she refused, he went into the kitchen and put her pet hamster
Hamster
Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera....
, 'Supersonic', between two slices of bread and proceeded to eat it.
Clifford counter spun the story the next day, when he flew with a journalist from The Sun to Starr's home in Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
with another hamster the newspaper had called Sandwich, which was photographed with claimed vegetarian Starr. Starr now admits in interviews that this story was untrue, but brought him much-needed publicity for his forthcoming tour.
The story was one of the first examples where, rather than PR agents managing what went into the media or confirming a journalist's storyline, Clifford created a fast-selling story which he sold to the media, and its counter line follow-up. As a result, it brought Clifford to the British public's attention. Clifford and Starr ended their connection shortly afterwards, and Clifford later used background material to fuel the media storylines around Starr's later revelations during his divorce of wife battering
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, alcoholism, and drug taking.
Pamella Bordes
Clifford was approached by a friendly madam of a brothel who had provided Clifford's client with various services, worried about publicity from an investigative reporter from the News of the WorldNews of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
. Clifford asked the madam to reveal details of her girls and clients, and found that one prostitute, Pamella Bordes
Pamella Bordes
Pamella Chaudry Singh , known during her marriage as Pamella Bordes is an Indian-born photographer and former Miss India who briefly hit the headlines in the United Kingdom in 1988 and 1989 as the mistress and escort of several notable individuals, including arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi...
, was simultaneously dating: Andrew Neil
Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster.He currently works for the BBC, presenting the live political programmes The Daily Politics and This Week...
(then editor of The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
); Donald Trelford
Donald Trelford
Donald Trelford is a British journalist and academic, who was editor of The Observer newspaper from 1975 to 1993. He was also a director of The Observer from 1975 to 1993 and Chief Executive from 1992 to 1993....
(then editor of 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,...
); Conservative minister for sport Colin Moynihan
Colin Moynihan
Colin Berkeley Moynihan, 4th Baron Moynihan PC is a former Olympic coxswain who became a businessman, politician and sports administrator.-Early life:...
and billionaire
Billionaire
A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the...
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...
. Clifford rang News of the World editor Patsy Chapman
Patsy Chapman
Patsy Chapman is a former British newspaper editor.Chapman grew up in Romford and worked on the magazine Boyfriend before becoming a reporter with the Romford Times. She then joined The Sun and was gradually promoted to become Deputy Editor...
and drip-fed her the story of Bordes through the investigative reporter she was using on the madam. The story, published in March 1989 under the headline "CALL GIRL WORKS IN COMMONS", created a near Christine Keeler
Christine Keeler
Christine Margaret Keeler is an English former model and showgirl. Her involvement with a British government minister discredited the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan in 1963, in what is known as the Profumo Affair....
-like image for Bordes when it went to press, since it was discovered she had a House of Commons security pass arranged by MPs David Shaw
David Shaw (UK politician)
David Lawrence Shaw is a British former Member of Parliament . He was the Conservative Member for Dover from the 1987 general election until the 1997 election, when he lost the seat to Gwyn Prosser of Labour...
and Henry Bellingham. Clifford claims Bordes was never his client, and that he earned his fee for "writing" the story, which ultimately served the purpose of avoiding the madam any adverse publicity or court case.
Mohamed Fayed
The controversial then boss of Harrods Mohamed Fayed retained Max Clifford Associates in July 2000 to 'polish up' his image. After having paid the politician Neil HamiltonNeil Hamilton (politician)
Mostyn Neil Hamilton is a former British barrister, teacher and Conservative MP. Since losing his seat in 1997 and leaving politics, Hamilton and his wife Christine have become media celebrities...
to ask questions in the House of Commons in the now notorious 'cash-for-questions' scandal, Fayed and Hamilton became high profile enemies when the latter revealed the fact during a court case. Shortly after Fayed retained Clifford, Hamilton and his wife Christine
Christine Hamilton
Christine Hamilton is a British television personality and author, and the wife of former British Member of Parliament Neil Hamilton who was Minister for Corporate Affairs between 1992-1994....
were both arrested on rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
charges which were later found to be false. Clifford subsequently paid the Hamiltons an undisclosed sum in damages on behalf of the third party accuser.
Fabricated rape claims
In 2005 Clifford paid an undisclosed sum in libel damages to Neil Hamilton after he had represented Nadine Milroy-Sloan, who was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice after fabricating rape allegations against Hamilton. Clifford did not face any criminal charges over the case. However, the judge in the case pointed out that Clifford had offered the offender £80,000 in connection with the claimsClients
Clifford has since represented various clients, including: David CopperfieldDavid Copperfield (illusionist)
David Copperfield is an Emmy Award-winning American illusionist, and was described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. Copperfield's network specials have been nominated for 38 Emmy Awards and won a total of 21 Emmys...
; Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed is an Egyptian businessman and billionaire. Amongst his business interests are ownership of the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club, Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods Department Store, Knightsbridge...
; Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
; brain-damaged boxer Michael Watson
Michael Watson
Michael Watson, MBE is a retired British boxer whose career ended prematurely as a result of near-fatal injury sustained in a WBO super-middleweight title fight defeat by Chris Eubank in September 1991....
; Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
left-wing politician Derek Hatton
Derek Hatton
Derek 'Degsy' Hatton is a broadcaster, businessman and after-dinner speaker. He won celebrity status as a local politician in Liverpool during the 1980s, where he was deputy leader of the city council, and a supporter of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency.-Early life:He attended Liverpool Institute...
, for whom Clifford created an affair
Affair
Affair may refer to professional, personal, or public business matters or to a particular business or private activity of a temporary duration, as in family affair, a private affair, or a romantic affair.-Political affair:...
in order to change his image; former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson
Richard Tomlinson
Richard Tomlinson is a New Zealand-born British former MI6 officer who was imprisoned during 1997 for violating the Official Secrets Act 1989 by giving the synopsis of a proposed book detailing his career in the Secret Intelligence Service to an Australian publisher...
; Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
farmer Tony Martin
Tony Martin (farmer)
Anthony Edward "Tony" Martin is a farmer from Norfolk, England, who in 1999 killed one burglar and wounded another who had both entered his home...
, who was imprisoned for fatally shooting a burglar; Rebecca Loos
Rebecca Loos
Rebecca Loos is a Spanish-born Anglo-Dutch model and media personality, who was brought to media attention following claims that she conducted an affair with the married football player David Beckham—while employed as his personal assistant...
, when she negotiated with the press about her alleged affair with England football captain David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
; Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Ann Cole is an English pop and R&B recording artist, songwriter, dancer, actress and model. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls...
; Celebrity Big Brother 2007 winner Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty is an Indian film actress and model. Since making her debut in the film Baazigar , she has appeared in nearly 40 Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, her first leading role being in the 1994 Aag. Although she has been through years of decline during her career, Shetty has been...
; and Jade Goody
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody was an English celebrity. She came into the public spotlight while appearing on the third series of the Channel 4 reality TV programme Big Brother in 2002, an appearance which led to her own television programmes and the launch of her own products after her eviction from...
, in the period of the reality star's cervical cancer
Cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. One of the most common symptoms is abnormal vaginal bleeding, but in some cases there may be no obvious symptoms until the cancer is in its advanced stages...
and death.
Clifford represents Gillian McKeith
Gillian McKeith
Gillian McKeith is a Scottish nutritionist, television presenter, and writer. She is the former host in the UK of Channel 4's You Are What You Eat and Granada Television's Dr Gillian McKeith's Feel Fab Forever, and as of 2010 presents Eat Yourself Sexy on the W Network in Canada...
, saying of her doctorate in nutrition potentially being misconstrued as a medical degree by viewers of her advertisements: "personally, I wish it had never been mentioned. She never needed it, and it's done nothing but cause her embarrassment."
Reporter Louis Theroux
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux is an English broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism on the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met.... His career started off in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family such as his father, Paul Theroux and...
followed Clifford in the BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
2002 programme When Louis Met... Max Clifford. During filming, it appeared that Clifford was trying to set up Theroux during a PR stunt in Sainsbury's. It backfired after Clifford was heard on his microphone lying, unaware it was still on. Clifford is regarded as being one of the shrewdest practitioners of his trade, and in July 2005 he told reporters that he would not represent Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
after he was found innocent of child abuse
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
charges, saying: "It would be the hardest job in PR after [representing] Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
".
Gay clients
Clifford has given assistance to clients who wish to concealCloseted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
their sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
from the public. Clifford claimed that he has been approached twice by major football clubs to help make players present a "straight" image. In an interview with Pink News
Pink News
Pink News is a United Kingdom-based online gay newspaper.The paper version, The Pink News, officially launched at the Law Society on 28 June 2006 by Francis Maude, Chairman of the Conservative Party, Meg Munn, Minister for Equality, Simon Hughes, President of the Liberal Democrats and Meg Hillier,...
reported on 5 August 2009, Clifford said that if a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
football player came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
, his career would be over: “To my knowledge there is only one top-flight professional gay footballer who came out - Justin Fashanu
Justin Fashanu
Justinus Soni "Justin" Fashanu was an English footballer who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997. He was known by his early clubs to be homosexual, and came out to the press later in his career, to become the first professional footballer to be openly gay...
. He ended up committing suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. I have been advising a top premiership star who is bisexual. If it came out that he had gay tendencies, his career would be over in two minutes. Should it be? No, but if you go on the terraces and hear the way fans are, and also, that kind of general attitude that goes with football, it’s almost like going back to the dark ages.” Clifford has said so far none of his clients have been outed
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
.
In December 2009, he told The Independent on Sunday that he has represented two high-profile gay Premier League footballers in the past five years and has advised them to stay in the closet because football "remains in the dark ages, steeped in homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
".
The Major government
In light of Clifford's view of the deteriorating state of the NHS, and the moral difference with members of the John Major government, Clifford worked to expose stories to help the Labour Party in to power. Although not instrumental in exposing David MellorDavid Mellor
David John Mellor, QC is a British politician, non-practising barrister, broadcaster, journalist and football pundit. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for National Heritage , before...
's affair with Antonia de Sancha
Antonia de Sancha
Antonia de Sancha is an actress and businesswoman known to have had an affair with British Conservative Member of Parliament and Cabinet member David Mellor in 1992...
, Clifford's battle in representing de Sancha against the contrived post-spin story of the "family man Mellor" handled by counter PR Tim Bell ultimately derailed Major's 'Back to Basics
Back to Basics (campaign)
Back to Basics was an ill-fated attempt to relaunch the government of British Prime Minister John Major in 1993; a year after winning the general election the party's reputation was declining, not least due to the Black Wednesday economic debacle of September 1992...
' agenda. Clifford invented the story which claimed Mellor made love in Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
football kit, though he was blocked from mentioning it in his memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s. Clifford also helped to expose Jeffrey Archer's perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
in the 1980s during his candidacy for the post of Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
.
In 2005, Clifford paid damages to settle defamation proceedings brought by Neil and Christine Hamilton after he represented a woman who was later found to have falsely accused the Hamiltons of sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
.
The Blair government
Although a supporter of the Labour party, Clifford's approach in dealing with the BlairTony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
government was similar to that which he employed with Major's preceding Conservative government. The first instance of this was the story of Welsh Assembly leader Ron Davies. Then Clifford was accused by David Blunkett
David Blunkett
David Blunkett is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, having represented Sheffield Brightside from 1987 to 2010...
at the beginning of November 2005 of having a role in his second resignation. This derived from claims made on behalf of a much younger woman, who had become involved with Blunkett, over Blunkett's business interests, which were published in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. Later that week Clifford was accused of arranging a distraction from the assault made by his friend Rebekah Wade
Rebekah Wade
Rebekah Mary Brooks is a British journalist and former newspaper editor. She was chief executive of News International , having previously served as the youngest editor of a British national newspaper as editor of the News of the World and the first female editor of The Sun...
on her husband, EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
actor Ross Kemp
Ross Kemp
Ross James Kemp is a BAFTA award-winning British actor, author and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
, via the "coincidence" of the other "Mitchell brother
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
", Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden
Steve McFadden is an English actor, known for his role as Phil Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which he has played since1990.-Early life:...
being in a similar incident with an ex-partner. Clifford denied all responsibility.
On 26 April 2006, Clifford represented John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
's diary secretary Tracey Temple, in selling her story for "an awful lot more" than £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
100,000 to the Mail on Sunday
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
. The story was about the two year affair between Prescott and Temple which took place between 2002 and 2004.
On 4 May 2006, Clifford announced his intention to expose politicians who fail to abide by the standards expected of them in public office. He called his team of undercover investigators "a dedicated and loyal bunch".
Unpaid work and death threats
Clifford sometimes works for no payment. A contestant on the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
gameshow The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
who was a prostitute turned to Clifford for help with tabloid harassment: he did not charge her because he claimed he felt sorry for her. He also worked without fee for Martyn and Kay Tott, who tried to get £3m from Camelot
Camelot Group
Camelot GroupCamelot is a private limited company, its entire share issue is owned by a single shareholder, as detailed above. are the operators of the UK National Lottery. Camelot Group was awarded the National Lottery franchise in 1993 and was re-awarded the franchise in 2001 and again in 2007...
on the winning lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
ticket they bought and mislaid.
Clifford has received death threats demanding that he sever links with the five men who were suspected of the killing of black teenager Stephen Lawrence
Stephen Lawrence
Stephen Lawrence was a black British teenager from Eltham, southeast London, who was stabbed to death while waiting for a bus on the evening of 22 April 1993....
. He says he has never represented them, but had merely put them in touch with ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
interviewer Martin Bashir
Martin Bashir
Martin Bashir is a British journalist and media personality, currently with NBC News as a contributor for its Dateline program, and an afternoon anchor for MSNBC, hosting Martin Bashir...
. He also received death threats when he represented O.J. Simpson during his trial.
Jade Goody
He has recently worked as a publicist for Jade Goody. The media publicising the dangers of cervical cancer after Goody's diagnosis with the disease is credited with improving the uptake of cervical smears in the UK.Carter Ruck and 'Starsuckers'
On 23 October 2009, the makers of the documentary film StarsuckersStarsuckers
Starsuckers is a 2009 British documentary film aiming to expose the "shams and deceit involved in creating a pernicious celebrity culture"....
reported that they had received an email from the law firm Carter Ruck, acting on behalf of Clifford and threatening them with an injunction over their film.
Personal life
Clifford married Elizabeth Louise Porter at St Barnabas Church in SouthfieldsSouthfields
Southfields is a suburban district in the London Borough of Wandsworth, England, situated 5.6 miles south-west of Charing Cross where Serena Frazer lives. Southfields is located partly in the SW18 postcode area and partly in SW19....
, London on 3 June 1967. Elizabeth died in Sutton
London Borough of Sutton
The London Borough of Sutton is a London borough in South London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It is one of the southernmost boroughs of London...
, Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
on 8 March 2003, nine months after being diagnosed with lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
; the couple had been together for 40 years. Their only child, daughter Louise (born 1 June 1971), has lived with juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is the most common form of persistent arthritis in children. JIA is a subset of arthritis seen in childhood, which may be transient and...
since childhood. They live in Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames
Walton-on-Thames is a town in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey in South East England. The town is located south west of Charing Cross and is between the towns of Weybridge and Molesey. It is situated on the River Thames between Sunbury Lock and Shepperton Lock.- History :The name "Walton" is...
, Surrey.
On 4 April 2010, Clifford married his former PA Jo Westwood; guests included Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor, CBE is an English comedian and singer. A former talkshow host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years...
, Bobby Davro
Bobby Davro
Bobby Davro is a British actor and comedian. He is mainly known for his work as an impressionist...
and Theo Paphitis
Theo Paphitis
Theodorus "Theo" Paphitis is a retail magnate and British entrepreneur of Greek Cypriot origin. He made the majority of his fortune in the retail sector, and is best known to the general public for his appearances on the BBC business programme Dragons' Den and as former chairman of Millwall...
.
On 17 April 2008, Clifford announced on ITV1's This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
show that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
six months previously. After treatment, his cancer went into remission 12 months later.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Clifford ran and took part in discreet weekly adult birthday parties for his friends and clients in South London. This brought him into contact with various madam
Madam
Madam, or madame, is a polite title used for women which, in English, is the equivalent of Mrs. or Ms., and is often found abbreviated as "ma'am", and less frequently as "ma'm". It is derived from the French madame, which means "my lady", the feminine form of lord; the plural of ma dame in this...
s and prostitutes, a connection which still serves him well in his business to satisfy the often bizarre needs of his clients, as well as an early warning system of interesting behaviour of various persons.
A life-long fan of Jaguar cars, after owning a Bentley Arnage T
Bentley Arnage
The Bentley Arnage is a large luxury car produced by Bentley Motors in Crewe, England from 1998 to 2009. The Arnage, and its Rolls-Royce-branded sibling, the Silver Seraph, were introduced in the Spring of 1998, and were the first entirely new designs for the two marques since 1980.Another break...
, he now drives a Rolls-Royce Ghost.
Motivation
Clifford says what motivates him is much more than just money - he says he cannot stand hypocrisyHypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....
in public life, and reserves a particular disgust for lying politicians, and watched with growing anger what he thought happened to the health service over the past 20 years. For this reason, and because of his working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
background, Clifford is a traditional Labour supporter who worked to bring down the government of Major because he felt that the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
was being mismanaged.
Charity works
Clifford developed epilepsyEpilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
at the age of 46 as a result of early life brain scarring and was banned from driving for 12 months as a result. He does a considerable amount of fund-raising and media work for a children's hospice at the Royal Marsden Hospital of which he is a patron. He also handled the publicity for the Daniels family and helped set up the Rhys Daniels Trust from resultant media fees to combat Batten's Disease.
Clifford is also a patron of the Chertsey
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...
, Surrey based radio station Hospital Radio Wey. As of Summer 2010 he is the Vice President of Young Epilepsy.
Tips for fame
In a show for Fame TV in December 2006, Clifford gave his tips on gaining fame in the world today as:- Appear on a reality series
- Enter a talent contest
- Be abysmal on a talent show
- Gain fame by association
- Date a celebrity
- Flaunt your body
- Date a Royal Family member
- Make a home sex video
- Be a success on MySpace
- Be in the right place at the right time
External links
- Official Website
- Bio at Speakers UK
- Monthly column at Surrey Life magazine
- Rhys Daniels Trust
- Hospital Radio Wey
- The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy
- Max Clifford: Behind the headlines, BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 11 August 2001