Ocean Club Owner's Brother a pal of John Major

Nothing to do with Freemasons here I'm afraid. All that stuff is just a load of bollocks. So if you were looking for something that ties this to all that carzy Freemason, Bilderberg, Templar, Iluminati, David Icke bullshit - try an entertainment website like AboveTopSecret. But here is something of interest: John Major, Howell James, Bell Pottinger, Sir Christopher Meyer - all featured in mid-90s New Labour and Conservative politics. They all also play an instrumental role in the story of Madeleine McCann.

Yesterday we learned of an old family link between David Symington (co-owner of the Ocean Club) and former British Prime Minister, John Major and between Major's former political aide, Howell James and the recruitment of Clarence Mitchell. It doesn't really explain anything, of course, but we shouldn't let it pass without a mention (for a full explanation of the McCann Lobby click here)

As it happens, John Major's former Political Secretary Howell James - a good friend of Peter Mandelson and Lord Bell (owner of Bell Pottinger) owns a hotel in Marrakech, Morocco - the very place that Madeleine McCann was spotted in May last year. James co-owns the Riad El Fenn hotel with Vanessa Branson - sister of Richard Branson, the multi-millionaire who pledged £100,000 to set up a fighting fund on behalf Gerry and Kate McCann (in an extraordinary political turnaround, Tony Blair made Howell James the Labour Government's Permanent Secretary of Communications in 2004. James resigned the post in June 2008 to take up the role of Head of Corporate Affairs at Barclays).

Yesterday a blog reader stumbled across this report from the Daily Telegraph in which it described John Major's regular visits to the Douro Region of Portugal as guests of the Symington family:

"While Tory prime ministers tended to holiday with friends abroad - Margaret Thatcher with Lady Glover, a widowed friend in Switzerland; John Major with Ian and Cynthia Symington in the Douro valley in Portugal" - http://www.telegraph.co.uk, 'Once Cornwall Was Good Enough, Now Only Barbados Will Do', 27/07/2003

The Symington mentioned in the report is Ian Douglas Symington, brother of David Symington (Ocean Club owner). From what we can gather from the press, Major spent the summers of '93 and '94 as guests of the Symingtons in the Douro region, escaping the political limelight. In fact there is a picture of Norma and John Major gracing the lobby of the Symington's 'stunning' family house, the Quinta Dos Malvedos. It is alleged the couple had been introduced by a distant cousin (it transpires that Ian Douglas Symington is the father of Johnny Symington who was appointed Honorary Consul in Porto, Portugal by the British Foreign Office in 2005. In addtion to being the brother of Ocean Club owner, David, Ian is also the uncle of Angus Symington, the man reported to bear 'an astonishing likeness' to Robert Murat and whose similarity ultimately undermined the witness accounts)

In the book 'Elites' by João de Pina-Cabral and Antónia Pedroso de Lima, the Symingtons (or 'Syms' as they are known) are described as the world's largest 'Port Gentry' family. In a story of 'unbroken elite succession', the authors contend that it is the task of the Symington Estate to entertain visitors and the media. They allege that the Symingtons provide an attractive 'gentry' front for the multinational corporations who own the more powerful 'Port Houses'. However, the authors are just as keen to emphasise that Symingtons and their rivals, the Robertsons, are 'directly emmeshed in the political economy' of the region:

"The Symingtons and the Robertsons have the resoucres to impose their interests and dispose of social arrangements and practices in their own fashion in circumstances they control with some ease ... in the circumscribed world of the Gaia-Douro, the Port Gentry have become the demonstrators of the life, the class (gender relations and nationality)" (Elites, João de Pina-Cabral and Antónia Pedroso de Lima, p.175)

Whilst the Symingtons entertained emminent British figureheads like Major, another rival family, the Taylors, received guests like the former US Secretary of State, James Baker and King Albert of Belgium. There is, however, something of an ongoing feud between the two families. Describing them as the two ruling 'dynasties' who have controlled the Port industry 'since the 17th Century', the authors illustrate a conflict more befiitting the Colbys and the Carringtons. The Symingtons are also Catholic (whilst many other Port familes are Anglicans) a characteristic that has proved popular with local nationals according to the writers of the book.

Whilst James Symington is described as the 'paterfamilias' of the Symington Group it is David Symington who owns the Ocean Club.

At the time John Major was Britain's Prime Minister, his political aide was Howell James - the man personally responsible for seconding Clarence Mitchell to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to represent the McCanns in June last year. Much to the surprise of the British Press, Blair had appointed Major's chief political aide, James as the Government's Permanent Secretary of Communications in in 2004. Naturally it caused waves. A Tory spokesman, at that time questioned appointing 'a good friend of Peter Mandelson to such a sensitive post' but the move went ahead all the same.

Of course, it is likely to be no more than a coincidence or tragic irony, but Howell James - the man who loaned Mitchell to the McCanns, co-owns one of the 'sexy' and prestigious Riad hotels in Marrakech, Morocco - the very place in which Mari Olli Pollard was alleged to have spotted Madeleine McCann on on May 9th 2007, a few days shortly after she disappeared. The witness alleges she had seen Madeleine at a Petrol Station near the Ibis Palmeraie Hotel, which is roughly a 10 minute walk from Howell's Riad El Fenn Hotel in Marrakech's Jemaa el Fna district. The 18 room property is described by The Mr and Mrs Smith guide as a 'small and exclusive hotel' that is suitable for couples and not children (Emma Loach, the producer of the Madeleine McCann One Year On documentary for ITV contributes reviews for the Mr and Mrs Smith Guide). This small and private former townhouse is managed on behalf of Howells and Vanessa Branson (sister of Richard Branson) by husband and wife team, Frederic Scholl and Viviana Gonzalez (brother Richard Branson owns the nearby 18 room Kasbah Tamadot hotel just outside of Marrakech).

The man who first introduced Howell to Major and secured the aide his first senior role was Tim Bell - the founder of Bell Pottinger whose crisis management team (including Alex Woolfall) were dispatched to Praia da Luz to represent the Ocean Club's media interests in the wake of Madeleine's disappearence.

Tim Bell (now Lord Bell and the founder of Bell Pottinger) was another who swapped allegiances when New Labour came along. In fact it was Lord Bell who successfully lobbied on behalf of the Saudi Government to have the BAE Arms deal charges dropped and rescued Blair from another criminal investigation.

In another surprise twist, we learn that Lord Bell also worked for Alexander Lukashenko - the authoritarian President of Belarus (a Belarus Orphanage is where the McCanns sent all those cuddly toys they received in Rothley). Bell was also on hand to help Blair and his investors sell 'democracy to the Iraqis'.

In addition to handling the McCann Crisis on behalf of the Ocean Club, Bell Pottinger handled all the media attention behind poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.

In fact, Lord Bell, is a friend of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky.

But the real biggy is this: Bell Pottinger's client, Michael Cherney was recently involved in a $4 billion business dispute with Oleg Deripaska.

Followers of the McCann saga may also be interested to note that Sir Christopher Meyer was the British Prime Minister John Major's Press Secretary in the mid-1990s. The man who New Statesman described as a 'starstruck egomaniac' was not only Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission at the time the McCanns were awarded their substantial payout from the Daily Express newspaper, he is also the husband of Lady Catherine Meyer, the woman responsible for first introducing the idea of an 'Amber Alert System' to the McCanns (and upon which the couple successfully lobbied the European Parliament). Sir Christopher Meyer, who had been Britain's Ambassador to the United States during the main bulk of the Blair years, 1997-2003, and had also represented Britain in Moscow and Germany, is to resign his post as Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission in March 2009.

Howell James resigned his post as the Government's Permanent Secretary of Communications in June 2008, following a string of resignations that includes Clarence Mitchell (from the COI), Sheree Dodd and John Buck (British Ambassador in Portugal).

So no conspiracy. Just a well respected circle pulling together in a crisis and helping the McCanns with their personal tragedy.

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