Dominic Lawson returns to the Daily Telegraph and revisits his first column from 24 September 1994, when he argued Mohamed Fayed—then branded a "fraudster" over his 1985 Harrods takeover—should ideally have been expelled from the UK. He recalls warning Diana, Princess of Wales, before her June 1997 trip on Fayed's yacht, the Jonikal, and notes later allegations against Fayed. Lawson also revisits a 1995 column on London thefts and shares personal memories of his father, Nigel Lawson (d. 2023, aged 91).
If Only I'd Been Heeded Over Mohamed Fayed: Dominic Lawson Revisits His 1994 Columns
Mohamed Fayed was repeatedly refused British citizenship and a passport because he had failed the Home Office's 'good character' test - Jacopo Raule/Getty Images
It is a pleasure to return to the pages of the Daily Telegraph. Discovering that my previous Saturday column began on 24 September 1994 and ran for only 13 months before I moved to the Sunday Telegraph, I dug out my old cuttings book to see how I had described the world to readers three decades ago.
Dominic Lawson's first column for the Daily Telegraph, on September 24, 1994
My very first piece addressed Mohamed Fayed. That week the Egyptian businessman had failed in his bid to persuade the European Court of Human Rights that Britain’s courts had wrongly denied him the chance to challenge inspectors’ adverse findings about his 1985 takeover of Harrods. Department of Trade inspectors had described him as "a fraudster" who had invented "fantastic false stories," and successive governments had refused his application for a British passport.
Diana, Princess of Wales, with Dodi Fayed in St Tropez on August 22, 1997 – nine days before they died in a car crash - Patrick Bar/AP
In the column of 24 September 1994 I argued—though the ECHR could not expel him—that it would have been better if the UK had taken steps to remove him. That suggestion was outside the court’s remit, and at the time no government had considered such action.
The late Queen with Mohamed Fayed at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May 1995 - Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images
That reluctance felt painfully consequential in June 1997, when my wife’s friend Diana, Princess of Wales, told me she planned to accept Fayed’s invitation to join him and his family aboard his newly acquired yacht, Jonikal, off the south of France. I could not have known then that the trip was intended in part to introduce Diana to his son, Dodi, and to encourage a relationship that would attract intense public attention.
From left: The Lawson siblings Horatia, Dominic and Nigella with their father, Nigel - Dave M Benett/Getty Images
All I could do was warn her that the refusal to grant Fayed a British passport suggested he was not a fit or proper host for the mother of a future king. She thanked me, but went ahead with the plans.
For years the late Queen had been photographed beside Fayed at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, an appearance that Fayed no doubt valued as social endorsement. In later years, allegations emerged accusing Fayed of sexual abuse by a number of women, some of whom worked at Harrods; those reports say his reputation was shielded by advisers and former officials. Looking back, I remain of the view that stronger official action earlier might have prevented some harms.
Crime, Cab Drivers and 1995
Another recurring theme in my mid-1990s columns was street crime in London. On 22 April 1995 I recounted how a taxi driver warned me as I reached to open a rear window: "Have it open if you like, but that's an expensive-looking watch you've got on." He explained that opportunist thieves often grabbed valuables from passengers stuck in traffic.
He told me the police seemed uninterested despite repeated warnings, and that frustrated drivers had taken vigilante action: identifying one gang in Deptford and attacking its members. Anecdotes like that helped explain why 1995 looked bleak in official crime statistics, even if many metrics have improved since.
Family Notes
On 8 July 1995 I wrote about my father, Nigel Lawson, and the public interest in his losing more than a quarter of his body weight. People joked that I resembled him—only much thinner. Years later the irony deepened: my hair went silver, then white, while my father retained his natural colour until he died in 2023, aged 91. Once, our younger daughter asked my wife in genuine puzzlement: "Mummy, who is older, Grandpa or Daddy?" My father was delighted by the confusion and would have been pleased to see me back in the paper for which he wrote his final piece.
The cuttings book and those early columns are a reminder of how judgments made in haste—or avoided entirely—can look very different with the benefit of hindsight: about public figures, public safety, and the small domestic moments that linger longest.
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