Lord Brixton Dies At Last
It is with some regret, but not a great deal, that we must report the death in his sleep of a massive heart attack of the Rt. Hon. Percival Forbes Ffife Fairfax, KBE, CBE, IOU and Bar, Lord Brixton.
Fairfax was perhaps best known for his speech in May 1940 defending Hitler, he said, 'Frankly Mr. Hitler is a lovely man, despite being a vegetarian he is not weird, he has lovely table manners. Herr Goring is frankly attractive.' His political career never really fully recovered, although it made little real difference as his political career was going nowhere anyway. Fairfax led a life dogged by scandal, but he was on the outskirts of nearly every major event of the twentieth century.
Born in Shropshire in 1895 Fairfax was schooled at Eton, but was expelled in his third year for killing a fag who overcooked his muffins. He finished his education at Harrow and then gained a fourth at Cambridge. He had no need to work after he inherited a fortune from his parents, who both tragically died in a threshing machine accident on their vast estate. Fairfax was the only witness to the tragic events, but would never speak of the matter. Close friends said it still upset him in his old age, and he would always quickly change the subject.
Fairfax married his first wife Lady Arabella Ware De Wolf soon after gaining his peerage. The marriage was sadly short lived. After honeymooning in the South of France Lady Arabella had a tragic accident. She was heard to be arguing with Fairfax about the fact his best friend Lord Robert 'Bunny' Warren had shared a luxury room with him on their honeymoon, while Lady Arabella had to stay in a boarding house six miles away. Shortly after this Lady Arabella fell into a silage pool and drowned. Fairfax was so devastated he immediately went on a six month cruise of the Nile with his friend Bunny.
Fairfax entered the House of Commons representing Barrow on the Wold 1933, he left again at quarter eight and wasn't seen again until 1936. At this point he married the mysterious fifth Mitford sister Jeremy. He became very friendly with Hitler, Mussolini and notoriously joined Oswald Mosley's New Party. Fairfax crossed the floor of the House of Commons many times, he never could find his seat. His famous, 'It's all the fault of the Jews and Dagos' speech is widely regarded as a low point in British political history.
Fairfax spent the war in Brixton Prison under Regulation 18B alongside Mosley, but had no problem regaining his seat after the war. He supported Rab Butler in the succession of the Conservative Party leadership in 1962, but Butler didn't want his support, so he changed sides to Douglas Hume who went on to win. He was Minister without Portfolio and Keeper of the Royal Privy in that government.
Many rumours followed Fairfax throughout his life and his liking for the company of Dockers was well known in the House. Fairfax was sacked just before the government fell for goosing the Prime Minister of Sweden at a Royal function. He remained a backbencher until he retired and was elevated to the Lords as Lord Fairfax of Brixton, the scene of many of his political shenanigans with Mosley in the thirties, as well as his favourite dockland. His interests were hunting, blood sports, hunting, sodomy and blood sports. Fairfax lived to the age of 98 and outlived everyone he owed money to. Hopefully we shall not see his like again.
