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MP's war of words with Al Fayed
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A Conservative MP has been branded "cowardly" by Mohamed Al Fayed after he used Parliamentary privilege to call the tycoon a "thief, a crook and liar".
Gerald Howarth called for Mr Al Fayed to be deported over his "absurd allegations" during a Commons debate.
It follows the end of a six-month, £2.8m inquest into the deaths of Mr Al Fayed's son Dodi and Princess Diana.
Mr Al Fayed's spokeswoman said it was "cowardly" to "abuse parliamentary privilege" by insulting an individual.
MPs cannot be sued for libel for any statement they make in Parliament.
At Home Office questions in the Commons on Monday Mr Howarth, Conservative MP for Aldershot, noted the speed with which Mr Al Fayed's most recent application for British citizenship had been refused.
'Swift action'
He added: "Given the great distress caused by Fayed's absurd allegations and his burden on the public purse, will the home secretary now take swift action to remove for good, as an undesirable alien, this thief, crook and liar."
Immigration minister Liam Byrne replied: "I have made it my policy not to discuss individual cases on the floor of the House, but suffice to say the comments are on the record."
Later Mr Al Fayed's spokeswoman Katharine Witty accused Mr Howarth of waging "a war" against him.
"It is cowardly for an MP to abuse parliamentary privilege to insult an individual," she said.
She said Mr Howarth had "waged a war against Mohamed al Fayed for years" and would not repeat his remarks to his face "because he knows he will be sued for libel".
"As to his claims, Howarth should remember that Mohamed al Fayed employs 10,000 people in the UK, pays hundreds of millions of pounds in taxes every year and has contributed to billions of pounds of export business for the last 40 years," she said.
"This matter is in the hands of Mohamed al Fayed's lawyers."
Mr Al Fayed's UK business interests include top London department store Harrods and premiership football club Fulham.
Earlier this month the inquest ruled Dodi and Princess Diana were unlawfully killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 - due to the actions of driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi.
Mr Al Fayed's claim including that Diana, Dodi and Henri Paul were "murdered" in an act orchestrated by MI6 on the instructions of the Duke of Edinburgh was dismissed by the coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker as having "not a shred of evidence" to support it.
Mr Al Fayed said at the time he would accept the verdict, for the sake of Princess Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry.
The Egyptian businessman has made several attempts to gain British citizenship which have been turned down.
Soure: BBC News |
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