I’ve never really paid a lot
of attention to the life and career of Max Clifford, aside from thinking of him
as a slimy character who tries to portray himself as some kind of gangster
figure. There’s no denying his skills as a publicist in the past, but it
appears that those skills are no good when you’re hiding the worst secret of
them all.
When the Jimmy Savile ‘revelations’
(and I am using ironic quotes around the word) first came out in the papers,
the public realised that the police and the BBC (among others) had done their
best to bury this news under the carpet. Savile was able to hide behind his
charity work and self styled eccentricity to keep the story at bay. When he
died the skeletons in his closet didn’t set themselves free straight away, as
Twitter wasn’t quite sure how to react. The respectful ‘RIP’ tweets from people
who wanted to pay tribute to the presenter of Jim’ll Fix
It, a programme that we unfortunately cannot pretend we didn’t watch
and want to be on. Jimmy Savile’s lasting legacy was the formation of Operation
Yewtree to investigate allegations of sexual offences from celebritys of old.
Max Clifford went on
television fairly early on to declare that he was fighting off desperate phone
calls from people in the public eye with something to hide. His talent for PR
bullshit has worked both ways in the past, he was as good as keeping people out
of the papers as he was at getting them in. Operation Yewtree could perhaps
have been accused of charging in feet first and arresting people, but they are
nervous about letting another Savile through the net. So far there’s been
unsuccessful cases against Jim Davidson, Jimmy Tarbuck, and William Roach, and
pending cases against Rolf Harris*, Paul Gambaccini and Freddie Starr. Stuart
Hall doesn’t count as a victory for Yewtree as he admitted liability for the charges
against him. The argument for not naming names in the media is a strong one as
it can stick to people, on the other hand it does encourage other people to
come forward who have suffered in silence.
*Rolf Harris is a sad one
really, as everybody loved him and several generations have their own memories
of him. Nobody felt any real affection towards the rather creepy figure of
Jimmy Savile and many weren’t surprised at the stories coming out.
Max Clifford’s arrest was met
with a certain amount of indifference, plus of course the jokes about how he
could do with a good public relations person. Throughout the trial he has
maintained his arrogant swagger, arriving at court immaculately dressed and
chatting to reporters, and maintained his innocence. He has referred to his
accusers as money grabbing fantasists, something that a lot of accusers have
actually been. However in this case it was true, and the man who managed to use
PR bullshit to save others couldn’t use his PR bullshit to save himself.
He hasn’t been sentenced yet,
so he has one card left up his sleeve if he chooses to use it. All the
celebrity names who have had their indescretions buried by Max Clifford must
now be shitting themselves. Until he gets sentenced later this week he has the
ultimate bargaining tool to reduce his sentence, or avoid a custodial sentence
all together. Even better would be the idea suggested on Twitter this evening;
Clifford should spill the beans on his clients and then kill himself therefore
winning.
===
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