John Platts-Mills Q.C

I first encountered John Platts-Mills Q.C in the mid-1990's when he gave a speech at a Palestinian Rally in a small venue in east London. His talk was primarily on the iniquity and evil of the regime of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. John Platt-Mills was solemn but furious that evening and called Mubarak a "criminal" and much more besides ... and rightly so. At the time I thought to myself how futile it was to hope for an end any time soon to the un-Godly undemocratic Mubarak regime. It wasn't until 2012 that Mubarak was deposed, by which time our noble Q.C had been dead for a decade. After his speech Mr Platts-Mills left the theatre immediately - walking past me in the audience - as if off to his own summary execution such was his feeling of regret at the continuance of the Mubarak regime. The second time I saw Platts-Mills was at a talk in Central London in 2000 by the renowned Muslim Imam Sir Zaki Badawi. Badawi was a life-long friend of mine and spoke too about the British establishment's disgraceful abandonment of the Muslims in Bosnia as well as other world events. Platts-Mills was with his senior Clerk from his Chambers who gave me his business card and we all had a very interesting chat on all things Middle Eastern. Platts-Mills expressed his amazement that Badawi spoke with no notes on such complex matters. I was in exalted company and savoured the evening which was attended by the great and good in the London legal and political world. I sent John a copy of Saïd Aburish's unbeatable book: 'A Brutal Friendship: the West and the Arab elite'. As you will see he wrote back to me and re-used the envelope I had sent to him. Years later when I worked in Lincoln's Inn, I discovered that one of John's sons was a barrister in New Square who was kind enough to give me a copy of his father's book 'Muck, Silk and Socialism'. A great read..