Zoom The World according to Bernie Ecclestone

In a quite extraordinary interview with The Times newspaper, Formula One Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone lifted the lid on some of his social, economic and political beliefs. And a regular Pandora’s Box it is too.

Ecclestone has ruled the commercial side of the sport with an iron fist for many decades now and despite the recent threat from the Formula One Teams Association, the billionaire and FIA President Max Mosley seem set to continue to dominate the sport in commerce and regulation respectively.

There is however ongoing unrest within the FIA camp following recent accusations from Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo that Mosley runs the sport in a dictatorial fashion, something Ecclestone has strong views on.

“If you have a look at a democracy it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries — including this one," Ecclestone told the British Times newspaper. “I like people who make up their minds. If you have to keep referring to your grandmother before you do anything I think that’s dumb. I make decisions, sometimes wrong, sometimes right — so long as you get more things right than wrong then that’s okay.”

As ever, Ecclestone wastes no time cutting to the chase. Being decisive is often seen as a positive aspect in ones individual’s make-up, but that is a far cry denouncing democracy.

Ecclestone went on to explain his admiration for determined and single-minded leaders such as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, loved or loathed by a majority in the UK. Ecclestone however has little time for New Labour, the party that has dominated the political landscape since sweeping to victory in 1997, claiming that both former and current Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have tried ‘to please everyone’ and that the current FIA President would ‘do a super job’ as Prime Minister.

The most recent Iraq war split opinions around the world with some saying that the invasion of the country was logical and justified based upon the - ultimately incorrect - intelligence that suggested that weapons of mass destruction were being stockpiled by the Hussein regime Others took the view that pre-emptive wars are fundamentally abhorrent. There are a plethora of arguments based around the two scenarios, but Ecclestone is clear on his view.

“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,” Ecclestone continued. “It was the same [with the Taleban]. We move into countries and we have no idea of the culture.”

When asked who his ‘favourite historical dictator’ was, Ecclestone said ‘Maggie’s gone’ and then added: “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”

Ecclestone went on to give his views on the environment, the taxations system, the fact that he would scrap the tax-payer funded British National Health Service and of course personal finance. “I have a credit card but hardly use it. I bought my yacht with a cheque...”

The final decisive words go to the Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Stephen Pollard. “Mr Ecclestone is either an idiot or morally repulsive,” he told the same publication. “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.”

Full Ecclestone interview with The Times newspaper.

Earl ALEXANDER
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