Max Mosley

File:Max mosley.jpg

The Influential FIA president Max

Max Rufus Mosley (born 1940, London, England) is currently serving his fourth term as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Mosley is the second son of Sir Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists, and Diana Mitford. He attended Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with a degree in physics in 1961. During his time at Oxford he was Secretary of the Oxford Union. He studied law at Gray's Inn in London and qualified as a barrister in 1964. He raced in club events in the UK during 1966 and 1967 followed by Formula Two for the London Racing Team and with Frank Williams's Formula Two team in 1968. He retired from driving in 1969 and went into racing car production as one of the founders of March. He met with some success in Formula One, March finishing third in the Constructors' Championship in 1970 and 1971, with Ronnie Peterson second in the drivers' World Championship in 1971 and great success in the profitable business of selling Formula Two and other types of customer cars.

In the early 1970s he became involved with FOCA, the Formula One Constructors Association, a union of teams created to defend the teams' rights and maintain their collective control of the sport. At the end of 1977 Mosley officially withdrew from constructing and became legal advisor to FOCA. He was later elected as president of the FISA (Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile, a committee of the FIA. A later restructuring of the FIA led to the demise of FISA and Mosley was elected president of the FIA.

At the time Bernie Ecclestone was the president of FOCA and Jean Marie Balestre president of FISA. The two clashed repeatedly over various regulation and financial issues, fighting for control of the sport. Mosley helped resolve this debate by drawing up the Concorde Agreement, giving FISA control of the rules and FOCA control of promotion and television rights.

Shortly thereafter Mosley disappeared entirely from Formula One for three years, but returned in 1986 to become president of the FISA Manufacturers' Commission and establish the Simtek Research construction team. He sold his share of Simtek in 1991 when he was elected president of the FISA, deposing Jean Marie Balestre by 43 votes to 29. He resigned a year later, stating that he would rather be elected on his own merits than the mistakes of his predecessor; the FISA immediately re-elected him for a four-year term. In 1993 he was elected president of the FIA replacing Jean Marie Balestre. The FISA was then merged into the FIA as its sporting arm. He was elected to his second term as president of the FIA in October 1997, his third in 2001 and fourth in 2005.

In June 2004 Mosley announced that he would step down from his position in October of that year. However, in July 2004 he rescinded his decision after the FIA Senate called for him to stay on. His term expires in October 2009 although speculation remains that he will step down before that. Many insiders believe these are just part of a well crafted plan to strengthen his and Bernie Ecclestone's control over the sport. Mosley let it be known that he feels that Jean Todt should succeed him as president of the FIA when he steps down.

Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone retain almost absolute authority over Formula One racing; amongst other events, the FIA currently regulates the Formula One World Championship, the World Rally Championship, and the FIA GT Championship.

Over the years, he played a key role in drafting the Concorde Agreement of which the first (1981) version settled the dispute between the independent teams which were primarily UK based, the so-called grandee constructors (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Renault) and the FIA. A revised version, signed in 1998, still governs F1 today. This current Concorde Agreement expires on 31 December 2007 and a new one is under active discussion between the teams, the Commercial Rights Holder (Bernie Ecclestone's company) and the FIA. There are now five major car manufacturers involved: BMW, Daimler AG, Honda, Renault and Toyota plus Ferrari, the longest-standing competitor in the Formula One World Championship. All of these plus the five independent teams want agreement and a new Concorde is expected shortly.

Fascist activities

Mosley was an election agent for his father's post-war party, the Union Movement, which used racial scaremongering in making immigration its core issue.

In his Memoir of a Fascist Childhood: A Boy In Mosley's Britain , the reformed onetime neo-Nazi teenager Trevor Grundy describes how Mosley's father used the Teddy Boy movement in the run-up to and during the 1959 British general election, when the fascist leader stood in a racially-charged campaign in Notting Hill. Grundy's book claims that Max Mosley, with his brother Alex, canvassed among the local "Teds", posed for the Daily Mirror as upper-class "Teds" and organised fascist skiffle gigs. According to Grundy's book, the first local graffiti slogan, ‘Keep Britain White’ (usually initialised as ‘KBW’ and accompanied by Mosley's flash and circle symbol) was spread by fascist youths like Grundy himself and Max Mosley. [1]

The motor racing journalist Alan Henry, in his book Driving Forces (1992), describes the younger Mosley as one of his father's "right-hand men" at the time of a violent incident in 1962, when the fascist leader was knocked down by a mob in London on his way to address a meeting and was saved from serious injury by his son's intervention. As a result of his involvement in this fracas, Mosley junior was arrested and charged with threatening behaviour, being cleared at Old Street Magistrates' Court on the grounds that he was trying to protect his father. [2]

The archived papers of the Indian Workers' Association contain press cuttings of disputes surrounding invitations to Max Mosley to speak at Birmingham University in both 1963 (page 120) and 1964 (page 123), when his invitation was cancelled [3].

Max Mosley was for a time the Union Movement's prospective candidate for the Salford East constituency but withdrew shortly before the 1964 General Election.

Also during the early 1960s, English newspapers linked Mosley to the neo-fascist Organisation de l'armée secrète (OAS) which was involved in the Algerian War [4]

Subsequent political interests

For a time Mosley was interested in becoming a Conservative MP but switched his allegiance to the Labour Party after meeting its then leader, John Smith, in 1994.

References

• The main men in F1. BBC Sport (11 October 2004).
• [5]. FIA Press Release (28 October 2005).

http://www.grandprix.com/gt/gt00107.html. Max's finest hour"