Alastair Campbell is facing losses running into hundreds of thousands of pounds following the collapse of a football betting syndicate run by his son. The Mail on Sunday has more.
Tony Blair’s former spin chief is understood to be among those alleged to have lost a total of more than £5 million from Rory Campbell’s venture, with some out-of-pocket investors now threatening to go to the police.
The row has dragged in Charlie Falconer, Mr. Blair’s Lord Chancellor and former flatmate, who held meetings with syndicate members shortly before Christmas to “calm tempers” after they were told that they would not be able to recoup their losses.
The syndicate bet on the Premier League, the German Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga using mathematical models intended to give it an edge over the rest of the betting market by assessing the effect of injuries, how well players link up and factors such as the weather.
Sources said that Rory, 37, told investors in April that “everyone will get paid in the summer” and “there is absolutely no hole” in the fund, before in June promising again that they would be paid back in full by the end of July.
But it is claimed that on July 18th he warned they might receive “in the region of 50%-65%” of their investment.
Two weeks ago, his lawyers are said to have informed them that the venture had collapsed because bookmakers in Asia had failed to pay their debts.
Last night, a representative for Rory Campbell said: “You appear to have been given an incomplete and in several respects inaccurate account of a highly complex set of issues, which are currently the subject of what we had understood to be confidential negotiations intended to seek a resolution between the various parties.
“It is a matter of concern and very disappointing to learn from you that these confidences have been broken. Given the confidential nature of the discussions, we are not at liberty to make any further comment at this stage.”
More than 50 people are understood to have placed between £10,000 and £500,000 each in the syndicate over the past five years, with Alastair Campbell and his partner Fiona Millar believed to have invested nearly £300,000.
Around 20 of the investors have compiled a dossier of evidence to pass to the police, including contracts setting out how the syndicate would run, bank statements, emails stating that the fund was profitable and spreadsheets detailing how much it was supposedly making.
The sources said that Lord Falconer met twice with investors to try and negotiate a financial settlement on behalf of the Campbell family, most recently in early December.
The meetings have been described by sources as “long and bruising”. This newspaper has seen correspondence between Rory and one investor who tried to withdraw his money from the syndicate last year after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Worth reading in full.
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WE haven’t forgotten anything. A part.of society won’t tolerate disagreement. Not just with covid but with climate change and race and gender issues and a growing number of topics.
Strangely as well, it doesn’t seem to be the issues as much as the people themselves. It seems to be that those who are intolerant about covid are also the same people who are intolerant about climate change and about “diversity”.
It’s the same horrible people over and over again.
Very well said – and that intolerant part of society may be summed up as the modern, Marxist Left.
And yet, in the soft and soggy centre too, whilst you will often hear pious exclamations over the intolerance of our day, these will give way immediately – but immediately – to censorious panic when its own tolerance for officially stigmatised thinking is tested.
It is as if a herd instinct has been harnessed and monopolised among centrist water buffalo by a pack of Marxist jackals – and indeed it has, for their moral coordinates are no longer those of Christianity but those of “progressivism”, in which the culture, the justified self-interest and the perpetuation of their own societies have been put beyond the pale.
This explains the mysterious cloud of taboo which has been settled over the matter of immigration, even as the left hauls it towards full throttle transformation. No issue of society or state is unaffected by it, from policing to housing but if it is raised in the course of discussion – as Lionel Shriver found – an icy disapproval wafts from the bien-pensants.
Being seen as “nice” seems to be the new religion of the “educated” middle class. As I seem to be a horrible selfish person, I have not been afflicted.
I’d add Ukraine to the list if I may.
It is horribly fascinating to observe how easy it is to get so many people to believe in, well, anyhing the BBC/Government propaganda machine tell them to.
I agree that it’s the same horrible people over and over again, their job being made easier now simply because people lack the ability to actually think.
And that is mainly due to our wonderful education system.
I have a feeling that these people have never been disagreed with in their lives. I am sure you have seen the little brats out in public spaces demanding things of their parents and screaming until they get their way, schooled through child-centred education and finished in permissive, safe-space universities. They have never grown up.
Well may the force be with this doctor because he’s courageous and principled enough to be taking on TPTB who indiscriminately persecute anyone they deem as a threat to their various agendas and who won’t be bullied into submission so as to toe the line; healthcare staff get hauled over the coals and medical licenses threatened, teachers get sacked for speaking up about safeguarding issues of kids or misgendering pupils, members of the public have their bank accounts cancelled if they step out of line regarding the woke cult or expressing political views which don’t jive with the narrative, etc etc, which brings me on to this rather excellent article which I think hits the nail on the head;
”Globalists are seeking to subjugate the world, and to do that they need to undermine the basic tenets of human interaction and understanding. They have allied with the political left in order to blitz the populace with chaos, keeping people distracted and off balance while the powers-that-be wrap their tentacles around every last vestige of private liberty.
Globalists view power in a similar manner to leftists, but they expand on the manifesto with the question “How can we convince others to give us control willingly?”
Woke useful idiots see power as something that must be stolen through intimidation or force. Globalists see power as something that is handed to them by useful idiots. In order to get that power, globalists spend the vast majority of their energy and wealth on the manufacturing of consent. It’s not enough to control the population, you have to make them believe that your oligarchy is THEIR IDEA. That way, they never try to fight back.
For example, look at the recent covid “crisis” and the draconian response that the majority of leftists supported. Also look at the hysterical climate change narratives and the calls for carbon restrictions that would inevitably lead to mass depopulation; once again largely supported by the political left.
Both agendas rely on the notion of an existential threat that requires people to sacrifice their freedoms on a micro-level. Yet, covid mandates suggest that we need to save the population from death while climate change mandates suggest that we need to kill most of the population to protect the environment. It doesn’t make sense unless you understand that diminishing freedom is the ultimate point. Covid was never about saving lives and climate controls have nothing to do with saving the planet.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/understanding-parasitic-cooperation-between-globalists-and-leftists
“Doctor Sues Canadian University for Allegedly Pushing Him Out of Job Over His Covid Opinions”I wonder why Out, Over, Him and His are capitalised – are these important words? – and not for or of.
One does not sue anyone for allegedly doing something. That is tautology.
https://titlecaseconverter.com/rules/
You can have any opinion, just as long as it’s the same opinion as the authorities’ opinion.