By: Rajeev Syal

Privacy campaigner claims accusation was motivated by his efforts to tighten press regulation

Max Mosley, the privacy campaigner, has been accused of publishing a byelection campaign leaflet that linked immigrants with sexually transmitted disease, tuberculosis and leprosy. The pamphlet, supporting a candidate for his father Sir Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement in a 1961 parliamentary contest, was unearthed by the Daily Mail in archives in Manchester.

The paper claims its discovery raises questions about evidence that Mosley gave under oath in a high court trial when he successfully sued the News of the World in 2008. Mosley has insisted that he did not recall the leaflet, and said he would not be deterred from his campaign for reforms to protect ordinary people from press abuses.

The disclosure has also prompted questions for Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, who has accepted £500,000 in donations to his office from Mosley.

Asked in the 2008 trial about his political activities as a young man, Mosley acknowledged that he was the election agent for Union Movement candidate Walter Hesketh in the 1961 byelection in Moss Side. But he said it was “absolute nonsense” to suggest that he had put out leaflets alleging that coloured immigrants brought diseases with them.

Pressed on whether the literature urged voters to “send blacks home”, he replied: “Not as I recall.” The election leaflet states that it was “published by Max Mosley”.

It includes the warning: “Protect your health. There is no medical check on immigration. Tuberculosis, VD and other terrible diseases like leprosy are on the increase. Coloured immigration threatens your children’s health.” 

It also states: “If enough people vote for me in this election, the government … will be sending coloured immigrants home, instead of bringing more in” and urges voters to “let us give the coloured people a fair deal by sending them back to good jobs and good wages at home in Jamaica”. 

The document has come to light as Mosley pursues an effort to prevent newspapers from referring to the sex party reported in the News of the World, which prompted the 2008 court case. 

The former Formula One head has campaigned for tighter press regulation since the now defunct Sunday tabloid wrongly reported that the party was “Nazi-themed”, and has donated funds to regulator Impress.

Asked by Channel 4 News about the line “coloured immigration threatens your children’s health”, Mosley said: “I think that probably is racist. I will concede that completely.”

But he said he had “no reason to apologise to anyone”, and added: “This was a statement in a leaflet which I am not even sure is genuine, which would never reflect my view. It would not reflect my view then or now because I simply wouldn’t dream of insulting people.”

He went on: “If that leaflet is genuine, I am responsible for it and it shouldn’t have been issued. I have never been a racist, I am not a racist, never will be a racist.” 

Mosley told the Press Association: “I do not recall the leaflet referred to, which was allegedly issued 56 years ago. I said so in court and challenged lawyers for the News of the World to produce it, which they failed to do. I obviously would not have done that if I knew of its existence. My record in motorsport demonstrates that I do not tolerate racism and, like most people, my political views have changed over time.

“It appears that the historical investigation pursued by the Daily Mail is yet another misconceived attempt to intimidate and deter me. I will continue to campaign for the vital reforms needed to protect ordinary people against the bullying of newspapers like the Daily Mail.”

In response to the leaflet, Watson told the Mail: “My views on press regulation are well known and have not changed. The views expressed by Max as a young man are not the views he holds now, just as the Rothermere family no longer uses its newspapers to support fascism.”