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Max
Clifford
Website
Max
Clifford Associates
Maxwell
Clifford (born April 6, 1943 in Kingston, Surrey)
is a British publicist, known for being ruthless in
his pursuit in gaining his client publicity or subverting
a damaging story, for 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 newspapers. While he is primarily
known for helping to bring damaging allegations to
light, he insists that most of his work is concerned
with concealment of stories.
Biography
Training as a journalist, after working in newspapers
for a few year Clifford replied to an advertisement
and joined as the second member of the EMI press office.
Resultantly he helped to promote The Beatles early
in their career.
As
a result of representing EMI artist Jimi Hendrix globally,
he gained connections in America and left EMI to subsequently
represent Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando.
Freddie Starr
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 created by Clifford, Starr had been staying
at the home of Vince McCaffrey and his 23-year old
girlfriend Lea La Salle in Birchwood, 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.
Starr now admits in interviews that this story was
untrue, but brought him much-needed publicity. It
also brought Clifford to the British public's attention.
Clients
Clifford has since represented David Copperfield,
O.J. Simpson, Mohamed Al-Fayed, brain-damaged boxer
Michael Watson, former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson,
the Norfolk farmer Tony Martin who wasimprisoned for
fatally shooting a burglar, and Celebrity Big Brother
2007 winner Shilpa Shetty. Ironically a few years
ago Clifford also represented Shilpa's fellow Celebrity
Big Brother contestant Jade Goody who sparked controversy
after it was claimed she was racially bullying the
Bollywood star.
Reporter
Louis Theroux followed Clifford in the BBC2 2002 programme
When Louis Met... Max Clifford. 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.
Clifford
also represents Gillian McKeith saying of faux-doctorate:
"personally, I wish it had never been mentioned.
She never needed it, and it's done nothing but cause
her embarrassment."
Gay clients
Clifford has been reported to give assistance to those
who wish to or have to hide their sexuality from the
public.
He
comments on this unusual achievement:
“So
far, none of my clients has been outed – but
it's been a 40-year battle, and in the past ten years,
as the media have become more intrusive, it's become
much harder work. But that's part of the fascination."
It
is arguable that this has done harm by preventing
the emergence of positive gay role models. In particular,
gay footballers find it hard to come out in the light
of the homophobia prevalent in football, and the absence
of declaredly gay men in the professional game.
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 government in to power.
Clifford was instrumental in exposing David Mellor's
affair with Antonia de Sancha, that derailed John
Major's Back to Basics agenda. He 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
Nadine Milroy-Sloan, who was later found to have falsely
accused the Hamiltons of sexual assault.
The Blair Government
Although a supporter of the Labour party, Clifford's
approach in dealing with the Blair government has
been similar to that which he employed with the preceding
Conservative administration. 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 about their two year affair
between 2002 and 2004.
On
4 May 2006, Clifford announced his intention to expose
politicians who fail to abide by the standards expected
to them in public office. He named his team of undercover
investigators as "a dedicated and loyal bunch".
Motivation
Clifford says what motivates him is much more than
just money - he says he cannot stand hypocrisy in
public life, and reserves a particular disgust for
lying politicians.
Clifford's
only daughter, Louise, who has suffered from rheumatoid
arthritis since childhood - is also a a source of
motivation for many of his decisions. He says he has
watched with growing anger what has 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 John Major because he felt
that the National Health Service was being mismanaged.
Clifford
himself developed epilepsy at the age of 46[4]. He
does a considerable amount of fundraising and media
work for a children's hospice, of which he is a patron.
Unpaid work and death threats
Clifford sometimes works for free. A contestant on
the BBC gameshow The Weakest Link who was a call girl
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.
On
the other hand, he has received death threats demanding
that he sever links with the five men who were suspected
of the killing of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Clifford 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.
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
Websites
Max
Clifford Associates
Max
Clifford - Press Gazette column
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