Summary
WITH Tony Blair preparing to take up his role as a Middle East peace envoy, Gordon Brown may soon find himself trying to solve his own Palestinian dilemma. For the Mayfair-based publisher Naim Attallah, 76, is to demand the new Prime Minister corrects what he sees as the injustice of there not being a single Palestinian-born peer in the House of Lords. Attallah, who came to Britain from Palestine as a penniless 18-year-old refugee but later set up Quartet Books and became chief executive of luxury jeweller Asprey, tried to change the Lords imbalance by putting his name forward to the body set up by Blair to oversee the appointment of non- political life peers. But his rejection by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, which has recommended the creation of more than 40 new peers since 2001, has prompted him to accuse the Labour Government of ignoring anyone who could speak up for his dishevelled homeland. He is now determined, with the arrival of Mr Brown in Downing Street, to have another go.
'There are peers who represent the Muslim, Jewish and Church of England point of view, but no one from Palestine,' he tells me. 'I wrote to the Commission a few years ago nominating myself. 'My application astonishingly was dormant for nearly three years before I was told they were not recommending my appointment. There seems to be an anti- Palestine balance at the top of the Labour Party. I feel I should ask Gordon Brown to reconsider my application.' But for all his Palestinian credentials, many will question whether the self-made Attallah, who gave socialites such as Sabrina Guinness and Nigella Lawson their first jobs, is suitable to don ermine robes.See the full content of this document
Extract
Why Naim's a Peerless Palestinian
Described as the patron ...
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