Mosley - Balestre
Who, what, where and when
Imagine you have £100. You have to guess who I am talking about. You lose £10 for every question and a further £10 for each wrong answer.
Q: This person was one of the most powerful men in global motor sport.
Q: He had, and earned, a reputation for being assertive and authoritarian.
Q: It was believed by many that he favoured certain teams and a driver or two. Many felt it was this that caused his downfall.
Q: In his youth he had certain connections with ultra right-wing groups.
Q: He spent time in court after being accused of nazi (lower case used intentionally) leanings.
Q: He had a certain ambivalence towards Britain.
Q: During his time in control there was a massive power struggle in which a constructors’ association played a big part and in which his authority was challenged.
Q: There was a threat of a breakaway F1 series.
Q: A concord agreement was signed which ended the conflict, at least in theory.
Q: He was interested in politics.
Got any money left? Think you’ve cracked it? Let me make it easier for you.
Q: He took his ousting from his powerful position with considerable dignity.
Now that possibly changes most people’s mind. And how about:
Q: Despite being a controversial figure there were few who would doubt that he was a motorsport enthusiast and had the best interests of it at heart.
That probably mops up the rest. We all now know the answer is not Mosley. Indeed it is his predecessor, Balestre.
The similarities are spooky. And there are more. Both men made much of their contribution to safety in the sport although some felt they corrected a fault rather than headed it off. That seemingly permanent fixture in the sport, Bernie Ecclestone, played a major role in the careers of both men. In Balestre’s case Bernie was his executioner. In Mosley’s case: well, the jury is still out on that one. Certainly there was a certain degree of antagonism towards Ecclestone on behalf of both men. One cannot but wonder if Mosley had had the full support of Ecclestone whether he would still be in position.
But despite history apparently repeating itself it is the differences that are most apparent.
Balestre was very successful in his chosen career. From establishing a successful motorsport magazine he built a publishing empire. Indeed, he emphasised the differences between him and Mosley for us during his unsuccessful campaign against him. He said that he owed his fortune neither to inheritance nor to marriage and that he was self-made. His press group, one of the most important in Europe, had 12,000 employees and 2000 journalists.
Many felt that this was a somewhat obvious criticism of Mosley who owed his position in life to that of this parents: his father being Sir Oswald and his mother one of the Mitfords, heiresses to an alcohol related fortune. Mosley had not been particularly successful at anything he had done.
Allegations of nazi sympathies bedevilled Balestre and it is widely accepted, although not often admitted, that he was a member of the Waffen SS. His suggestion that this was part of the career structure of Resistance operatives during the war was often felt to be a slight distortion of the truth. Courts found in his favour despite photographs implicating him – a similarity there – but his damages amounted to just one Franc – something of a difference.
Perhaps in an attempt to distance himself from such criticisms Balestre became influential in the international League Against Racism. This was in direct contrast to Mosley who has never mentioned his flirtation with the ultra right in his youth as part of the Union Movement, his father’s post war attempt at reincarnation of the pre war British Union of Fascists.
One significant difference was the way they exited their post. Balestre, as hinted at before, managed his public humiliation with some degree of dignity which endeared him to many of his critics, certainly this one. Mosley’s was bad tempered and fractious.
But the biggest difference, the one which seems to sum up the difference between the two in my mind, is that Balestre left his post, albeit under protest, with F1 in particular and motorsport in general in a strong position. Mosley left, again under protest, with F1 and motorsport the better for his going.
Moriarty
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