“In January this year I received a call from a friend,” Attew said in an interview with
The Times. “We had a meeting and I was approached and told there was an open budget to effectively go out and source material that would bring Max to his knees and, more importantly, remove him from office and discredit him publicly.
“During the conversation I said to the guy, 'What's your budget?' and he said, 'It's an open budget,' and I said, 'Okay, be specific here, are you after Max, are you after the
FIA or are you after Bernie?' They then went back and they came back a little while later and said, 'We are not going to pursue it for the time being'.
“The person contacted me because they knew of my relationship with Bernie but did not know of my relationship with Max. The reason they contacted me was to find out whether I had any loyalty to Max and whether I knew anything of value.
“I sat down with Bernie and told him what I'd heard. Bernie then told Max – I know this because Max later confirmed this to me. Because of the relationship I have with both of them, and Max knowing who I was, I assumed the warning would be taken seriously.”
Interestingly, Ecclestone is said to have re-assured Attew that Mosley had nothing to hide, referring to him as ‘Mr Boring'. The 77-year-old reacted with complete incredulity when the tabloid revelations were made public, incensed by Mosley having chosen to ignore the warnings he had been given.
“When I sat down with Bernie I said to him, 'Is there anything anyone is going to find out about Max?'” Attew continued. “And Bernie said, 'Dean, you are not going to find anything because there's nothing there – he's Mr Boring in that sense'. Mosley had kept this a good secret.”
Come 30 March, it was no longer a secret anymore, and two days later Attew contacted Mosley about the matter at Ecclestone's behest. During their phone call, Attew revealed Mosley had acknowledged having received warnings from both Ecclestone and another undisclosed person.
