It is 14 December 2013. London. Two weeks before the New Year’s Honours list announces future Knights patronised by the Queen of England.
These luminaries then get to wear the title of ‘Sir’ or ‘Dame’ before their name in a mock-up of medieval pageantry. But one figure who has yet to achieve this hallowed status is football superstar, charity do-gooder and fashion icon David Beckham.
This night, he is engaged in a lengthy interview on a chat show hosted by Jonathan Ross on UK's ITV. After thanking Beckham, just before the closing titles, Ross wagged his finger in the air to stop the clapping and said, “One more thing”.
“At the end of that goal montage earlier on,” said Ross, referring to a film clip at the start of the show that demonstrated Beckham's remarkable abilities as a footballer, “[the commentator] said 'David Beckham: he’s scored the goal, he’s put us in the World Cup, someone please give this man a knighthood’.”
“Now, we haven’t heard the announcement of the honours this year,” Ross continued. “They haven’t tipped you a wink or anything?”
Beckham, dapper in a suit and tie, grinned broadly. “I'm very honoured and lucky to have what I already have. The OBE [Order of the British Empire, a lesser honour than a knighthood], I’m very proud of. You know, even to be talked about receiving a knighthood is an unbelievable honour, but I’m very lucky to have what I have.”
The audience could not have known that the England legend was not nearly so casual about the honour as his words and demeanour suggested.
Leaked emails reveal that six months earlier, Simon Oliveira, Beckham's chief public relations adviser, had requested information about how a letter nominating someone for an honour should be written.
Oliveira had planted Ross’s seemingly off-the-cuff comment. He had emailed the show’s producers to inform them that the ex-player wanted Ross to say he should be knighted live on air.
“Maybe Jonathan should ask him about [the] knighthood and say he should get it,” Oliveira said. “What do you think? David is up for it.”
He even told the show’s producers how Beckham would respond. He would recall an anecdote about how Ross, during the pair's previous interview, had falsely predicted that Beckham would play for Britain’s Olympic team, and would call the presenter "a jinx." On the night, Beckham did exactly this.
The campaign had been going well. But over the next two weeks, news that there was a potential problem with the honour had leaked to Beckham and his advisers.
There were apparent attempts by the UK’s tax authorities to block the former Manchester United star from becoming “Sir David.”
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Britain's tax office, had flagged Beckham and his wife Victoria's involvement in an alleged tax avoidance scheme known as Ingenious, which could have helped the couple avoid taxes of up to £1m using artificial losses from investments in film productions. The scheme was being investigated by the HMRC.
Beckham's obsession with knighthood and the efforts of his advisors to garner public support for the footballer are revealed in emails from the Football Leaks database of 18.6 million documents, originally obtained by the German magazine Der Spiegel and then shared with partners in the European Investigative Collaborations network, including The Black Sea.
“Who decides on the honors?? It’s a disgrace to be honest"
Behind the scenes, the facade dropped. Two days before the 2013 Honours List was published, newspapers had learned that Beckham was not to be included.
Beckham emailed Oliveira at 5.30 AM from his home in Los Angeles after seeing the Sunday papers. “You see the knighthood thing today?” he asked.
“We half expected it,” said Oliveira in London. “Interestingly they’re not saying anything negative about you not getting it for financial or other reasons, rather it's a question of timing and the right age.”
It is crucial for Brand Beckham, which is said to have brought in around £45 million in 2015 alone, that the footballer is presented to the world as a clean-cut and likeable family man. One example is when Jonathan Ross asked whether he ever used swear words. Beckham, in keeping with his charming, boy-next-door image, replied, "No. Never"
His emails tell a different story. Oliveira’s response sparked a long, expletive-laden outburst from Beckham that would make a builder blush.
“They r a bunch of cunts I expected nothing less,” he wrote of the Honours Committee in late December 2013. “Who decides on the honors?? It’s a disgrace to be honest and if I was American I would of got something like this 10 years ago.”
Of the news that Katherine Jenkins, the classical singer, was to be bestowed the Order of the British Empire (OBE): “Katherine Jenkins OBE for what?”, his email continued. “Singing at the rugby and going to see the troops plus admiring [sic] to taking coke… Fucking joke and if you get asked we should think of a cutting remark.”
"We need to remain dignified if asked"
It was left to Oliveira to point out that the committee is staffed by civil servants, royal officers, and MPs, and that the “Americans have no real equivalent in place … it's peculiar to this country.
“My honest advice to you is that we should not do anything that jeopardises it and remain positive... Why waste time on a cutting remark as that will only rile the committee? We need to remain dignified if asked but if you want me to work up something cutting I will work up one but my advice is it’s not productive.”
Beckham replied: “I agree but it's pissed me off those old unappreciative cunts.“
Oliveira emailed David Gardner, one of Beckham’s other advisers, to shore up their knighthood campaign strategy for the following year. “It just gives us even more reason to work further this year on UNICEF, armed forces, other charitable commitments, etc. Essential…” he said.
The following year, however, the scandal over the Ingenious scheme would only worsen. In July 2014, Ingenious Media wrote to its 1,300 investors, including fellow football stars Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, and Gary Lineker, warning them of a crackdown on the scheme by tax authorities that could result in a demand for £520m in back taxes.
Ingenious Media, the architect of the scheme, stated that the government would likely require the investors to repay all the tax they saved, possibly with interest. The day after the story broke, Oliveira emailed Charles Bradbrook, Beckham’s accountant, to ask how the ex-footballer would be personally affected.
Bradbrook stated HMRC’s demands for repayment over the Ingenious scheme were “a nightmare” and complained that the tax agency had “moved the goalposts dramatically.”
Despite the bad news, Oliveira pressed ahead with his campaign to get Beckham knighted.
Opposing Scottish independence "will play well with establishment"
In August 2014, the TV historian Dan Snow emailed to ask whether Beckham would support the campaign to oppose Scottish independence, ahead of the upcoming referendum.
Oliveira said that "clearly the right thing is that we stay together due to our history and because we are stronger," and advised his star client that, “I also think your support will play well with establishment and in turn help your knighthood.”
“Ok let’s do it,” Beckham replied.
Oliveira personally drafted Beckham's plea to the Scottish nation: “I took as much satisfaction in seeing Sir Chris Hoy or Andy Murray win gold as I did watching Jess Ennis and Mo Farah do the same in the Olympic Stadium. My sincere hope is that you will vote to renew our historic bond, which has been such a success over the centuries and the envy of the entire world. What unites us is much greater than what divides us. Let's stay together. David Beckham.”
Upon reading it, Beckham questioned whether the message was “not too needy” or “not too oh please stay with us.” Oliveira reassured him as the statement was released to the media. It contained none of Beckham’s words.
Months later, as the announcement of the 2014 New Year Honours List approached, Beckham again got word that he had been passed over.
Why? The issue as to why one of the UK's most popular footballers kept missing out on the country's highest honour was Inland Revenue, Oliviera states. After alleged discussions with figures connected to the committee, Oliviera believed that agency had “place[d] a flag” on the nomination, without giving any details.
“Many were disappointed but the inland revenue won. So we now have proof this was true and it happened. Disappointing as the situation wasn't properly explained by them just a flag. These are all things we need to bear in mind now. For example your co investors in Miami, how will that affect things like this[?]”
The Miami investors are a reference to Beckham's proposal to establish a new football club in the city. They were courting the likes of the Qatari government-controlled investment fund.
But the ex-footballer was in no mood to let the Honours Committee dictate his choice of investors. “Don't give a fuck anymore I'll decide who my investors are not these cunts… They are fucking cunts…” Beckham replied. “I pay taxes and always have done so they have no right to do this…. Cunts.”
Oliveira wrote: “Genuinely the problem is…that [HMRC] for the moment they are winning that battle of public opinion. 'People should be paying their way in this country and nasty Starbucks, Google and Gary Barlow profit from this country and give nothing back, blah blah.'
“At the moment I have done a decent job to keep your name away from it and to explain that Ingenious whilst benefitting from tax breaks invested in a number of successful films, companies etc but in the meantime the fuckers behind the scenes are putting pressure on people like you to settle, this Honours Committee thing a perfect example.” Beckham wrote: “The flag has no truth behind it as we didn't [do] nothing wrong everything is and was above board … Cunts.”
Unfortunately for Beckham, Ingenious's tax problems continued to make headlines. In July 2015, several investors decided to sue the creators of the scheme over the massive bills they now faced.
In August last year, HMRC claimed a “hands down” victory in a tax tribunal judgement over the scheme. But Beckham, apparently, has not given up his dream of a knighthood or his anger at missing out.
Last year, he was invited to the Premio AS del Deporte awards in Madrid, one of Spanish sport’s most renowned honours, where he would awarded the sporting “legend” prize.
Beckham told Oliveira: “Unless it’s a knighthood fuck off.”
Oliveira wistfully wrote: “Then we might need the ghost of Christmas future [as] the ghost of [Christmas] past hasn't worked.”
Beckham's representatives and Doyen Sports would not respond to questions raised by this article but did respond to EIC Partners arguing this is 'stolen material', so did not comment on questions related to facts
Opening image: Howard Harrison / Alamy