Mohamed Al Fayed and “cash for questions” probably did more to bring about the downfall of John Major’s government than any of the other political scandals of the 1990s.
It was Al Fayed’s bribery of Tory MPs Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith – in cash stuffed in brown envelopes – and hospitality at his luxury Ritz Hotel in Paris for cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken that led to the word “sleaze” being associated with the Major government.
It was almost certainly more damaging than the several sex scandals that engulfed Major’s government in the ’90s, because it involved financial impropriety and corruption and projected an image of dishonesty and Tory MPs on the take.
Hamilton was the Thatcherite MP for Tatton in the Cheshire stockbroker belt – a seat later represented by Tory chancellor George Osborne – and was made a junior minister at the Department of Trade and Industry, responsible for the City and corporate affairs, by Major after his surprise general election victory in 1992.
Image: Neil Hamilton in 1994, while he was trade minister
But two years later, in 1994, it was revealed that he had taken cash for asking parliamentary questions on behalf of Al Fayed, along with Smith, who had been MP for Beaconsfield since defeating Tony Blair in a by-election in 1982.
Both MPs had failed to declare the donations from the Harrods tycoon.
It was to cost them their political careers and rob the Conservatives of one of their safest seats, Tatton, in the Blair landslide victory in 1997.
Al Fayed claimed he paid Hamilton up to £110,000 and also gave him Harrods gift vouchers and a free holiday at his Ritz Hotel in Paris, in return for asking parliamentary questions about Harrods during his battle for control of the store with Lonrho tycoon Tiny Rowland.
Smith – also a junior minister – was said to have received between £18,000 and £25,000, handed over in brown envelopes stuffed with £50 notes.
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Image: Mohamed Al Fayed in 1997
He quit straight away, but Hamilton battled on in a futile bid to clear his name.
Aitken, Major’s chief secretary to the Treasury and a former defence procurement minister, was revealed to have stayed without charge at the Ritz in Paris at the same time as Saudi arms dealers.
He sued for libel but was later convicted of perjury and served a jail term.
Smith stood down from parliament in 1997 but Hamilton attempted to cling on in Tatton, but was comprehensively defeated by the so-called “man in the white suit”, anti-sleaze candidate Martin Bell, who was backed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Image: Jonathan Aitken in 1995
The hugely damaging scandal led Major to set up the Committee for Standards in Public Life, which is still operating, though criticised at times for being toothless.
But despite its critics, the committee remains a lasting legacy of the cash-for-questions scandal and advises prime ministers, civil servants and parliament to this day.
And the committee’s best-known former chairman, Sir Alastair Graham, who headed the committee from 2004 to 2007, remains a frequent critic of political scandals such as Boris Johnson’s Partygate.
Hamilton, whose notoriety led him and his extrovert wife Christine to become TV celebrities, later defected to Nigel Farage’s UKIP.
Aitken, on the other hand, turned to God in prison and is now an Anglican priest.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission and crypto exchange Gemini have asked to pause the regulator’s suit over the exchange’s Gemini Earn program, saying they want to discuss a potential resolution.
In an April 1 letter to New York federal court judge Edgardo Ramos, lawyers representing the SEC and Genesis requested a 60-day hold on the case and that all deadlines be pulled “to allow the parties to explore a potential resolution.”
“In this case, the parties submit that it is in each of their interests to stay this matter while they consider a potential resolution and agree that no party or non-party would be prejudiced by a stay,” the letter states.
The lawyers added that a stay was in the court’s interest as “a resolution would conserve judicial resources” and proposed that a joint status report be submitted within 60 days after the entry of the stay.
The SEC sued Gemini and crypto lending firm Genesis Global Capital in January 2023, alleging they offered unregistered securities through the Gemini Earn program.
In March 2024, Genesis agreed to pay $21 million to settle charges related to the lending program, but the enforcement case against Gemini remains outstanding.
Letter from SEC and Genesis Global requesting extension of stay. Source: CourtListener
The letter did not specify what a possible resolution would entail, but the SEC has dropped several lawsuits it launched against crypto companies under the Biden administration, including against Coinbase, Ripple and Kraken.
In February, Gemini said the SEC closed a separate investigation into the firm as the regulator winds back its crypto enforcement under President Donald Trump.
“The SEC cost us tens of millions of dollars in legal bills alone and hundreds of millions in lost productivity, creativity, and innovation. Of course, Gemini is not alone,” Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss said at the time.
OpenSea, Crypto.com and Uniswap, among others, have also recently reported that the SEC had closed similar probes into their companies that were investigating alleged breaches of securities laws.
Two Republicans who received a combined $1.5 million from the crypto-backed political action committee (PAC) Fairshake will enter the US House after winning special elections in Florida.
Republican Jimmy Patronis won the vacant seat in Florida’s 1st Congressional District to replace Matt Gaetz, taking 57% of the vote to defeat Democrat Gay Valimont, according to AP News data.
Randy Fine also took Florida’s 6th Congressional District with 56.7% of the vote to beat his Democratic rival, public school teacher Josh Weil, and fill a seat left vacant by Mike Waltz, who took a job as White House national security adviser.
Florida’s 1st and 6th Congressional Districts — located in Florida’s western panhandle and along the state’s northeast coast — have been controlled by Republicans for roughly 30 years, but their lead has narrowed in recent years.
Fairshake, a PAC backed by crypto industry giants including Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz, gave Fine around $1.16 million in advertising spending and funneled $347,000 to Patronis to support his campaign.
Both Republicans have expressed support for the crypto industry, with Fine stating in a Jan. 14 X post that “Floridians want crypto innovation!”
Fairshake and its affiliates poured around $170 million into the 2024 US presidential and congressional elections to back candidates who committed to supporting the crypto industry.
The wins by Patronis and Fine increased Republican representation in the House to 220 seats, with the Democrats holding 213 seats.
There are two vacant seats to be filled after Texas and Arizona Democrats Sylvester Turner and Raúl Grijalva died on March 5 and March 13, respectively.
Florida can expect to see a crypto-friendly regulatory environment
The victories for Patronis and Fine likely mean that crypto legislation will continue to see support in the US capital.
The Republican Party would have maintained its House majority even if it lost both seats in Florida, but it would have made it more difficult for some of the recently introduced Republican-backed crypto bills to pass through the House and Senate.
Bills that could eventually make their way to the House include the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, which passed the Senate Banking Committee in an 18-6 vote on March 13.
Senator Cynthia Lummis also reintroduced a Bitcoin reserve bill about a week after the Trump administration announced the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on March 6, with the legislation referred to the Senate Banking Committee on March 11.
Several British trade associations have asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office to appoint a special envoy dedicated to crypto and for a dedicated action plan for digital assets and blockchain technology.
In a March 31 letter, the coalition of six UK digital economy trade bodies urged Starmer’s special adviser on business and investment, Varun Chandra, for a “greater strategic focus and alignment to deliver investment, growth and jobs” for the crypto industry.
The group, which consisted of the UK Cryptoasset Business Council, Global Digital Finance, The Payments Association, Digital Currencies Governance Group, the Crypto Council for Innovation and techUK, noted the US policy shift on crypto under President Donald Trump and his appointment of a crypto czar.
Britain’s commitment to an economic trade deal focused on technological cooperation with the US “presents a significant opportunity to mirror the United States’ ambition in fostering leadership in blockchain, digital assets, and other emerging financial technologies,” the letter stated.
The group recommended that the UK appoint a blockchain special envoy, similar to the US, to coordinate policy, foster innovation, and position the country competitively in global markets.
The trade bodies also called for the development of a dedicated government action plan for crypto and blockchain technology, including a concierge service to attract high-potential firms.
They added that the government should acknowledge and leverage the commonalities between blockchain, quantum computing and artificial intelligence technologies, including potential applications for government services.
Another recommendation was to create a high-level industry-government-regulator engagement forum to ensure informed decision-making and cross-sector collaboration.
The UK crypto and tech associations lobbying the government for a policy shift. Source: LinkedIn
“With deep pools of talent, access to capital, world-class academic institutions, and sophisticated regulators, the UK provides an environment where digital assets and blockchain innovation can thrive,” they stated.
The coalition argues that crypto and blockchain technology could boost the UK economy by 57 billion British pounds ($73.6 billion) over the next decade, with the sector potentially increasing global gross domestic product by 1.39 trillion pounds ($1.8 trillion) by 2030.
Tom Griffiths, the co-founder and managing partner of crypto compliance advisory firm BitCompli, said in response to the letter on LinkedIn that the Financial Conduct Authority “has a lot of talent and a good sight of future plans, but the UK is definitely losing pace with Dubai, Singapore, and other EU jurisdictions.”
“Now is the time for the FCA to act, or the UK will lose out on this huge opportunity, which is digital assets and all the benefits this sector can bring, not only now but over the next 20 years,” he added.