Fury as Ecclestone praises Hitler

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 19:54

THERE was growing anger last night after Bernie Ecclestone praised Adolf Hitler, and said he preferred dictatorships to democracy.

In an interview the Formula One boss insisted that Europe's current leaders were "weak" and that totalitarian regimes were more effective.

The 78-year-old billionaire was labelled "morally repulsive" for his inflammatory comments. Ecclestone, who controversially donated 1 million to New Labour in 1997 – a move which was seen as buying off a government ban on tobacco advertising – said he had become disenchanted with democracy.

He said: "In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done.

"In the end he got lost, so he wasn't a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it… so either way he wasn't a dictator."

He also rounded on democracy, claiming that "it hasn't done a lot of good for many countries — including this one (Britain]".

Instead, Ecclestone endorsed the concept of a government based on despotism.

He said: "Politicians are too worried about elections. We did a terrible thing when we supported the idea of getting rid of Saddam Hussein. He was the only one who could control that country. It was the same with the Taleban. We move into countries and we have no idea of the culture. The Americans probably thought Bosnia was a town in Miami.

"There are people starving in Africa and we sit back and do nothing but we get involved in things we should leave alone."

The racing chief sang the praises of Margaret Thatcher and claimed his close friend Max Mosley, president of the Fdration Internationale de l'Automobile and son of Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists, would make an ideal premier.

"I prefer strong leaders. Margaret Thatcher made decisions on the run and got the job done. She was the one who built this country up slowly. We've let it go down again. All these guys, Gordon and Tony, are trying to please everybody all the time.

"Max would do a super job. He's a good leader with people I don't think his background would be a problem."

Ecclestone is an outspoken figure who is no stranger to controversy. Last month he said that Formula One needed a "black, Jewish woman who, if possible, wins some races". He also rode out a potential breakaway by the major teams which included the announcement that Mosley would leave his post.

In 2008 he provoked uproar when he suggested racist comments directed at Lewis Hamilton on websites in the build-up to the Brazilian Grand Prix "started as just a joke".

However, he has since insisted he was deeply concerned when he saw fans "blacking up" to mock Hamilton, an act he described as racist.

He said: "If they do it again, I will go and find them and make them come and meet Lewis Hamilton."

Ecclestone also backed up Hamilton's controversial decision to move to Switzerland for tax reasons. "I would like to see the people earning most in this country paying less tax, as it is an incentive."

Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, said: "Mr Ecclestone is either an idiot or morally repulsive. Either he has no idea how stupid and offensive his views are, or he does and deserves to be held in contempt by all decent people."

Denis MacShane, the Labour MP and chairman of the all-party inquiry into anti-Semitism, and chairman of the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism, condemned Ecclestone's decision to align himself to a "growing" anti-democracy movement.

He said: "Of course democracy and the politicians are imperfect. But this fashionable contempt for the right of people to elect their own leaders is frankly frightening.

"If Mr Ecclestone seriously thinks Hitler had to be persuaded to kill six million Jews, invade every European country and bomb London then he knows no history and shows a complete lack of judgment."

John Whittingdale, the Tory chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said: "These are extraordinary views and I'm appalled that anybody could hold them."