What the Daily Mail Really Said About BP's Browne

Around noon on Tuesday, the business media got a welcome reprieve from the humdrum earnings headlines of late--the salacious story of John Browne's departure from BP amid scandal.

It's a tale of perjury, fiscal wrongdoing, and moral impropriety.

It's also a tawdry scandal worthy of the gossip rags: the wealthy community leader, a secret life, an amorous liaison, a scorned lover, and resulting blackmail to boot.

Browne and the Daily Mail of London are already locked in a spitting match over which of the above definitions we as readers should adopt, and working to spin the issue for maximum damage to the other.

In the wake of the Mail's article, Lord Browne issued a statement shame-facing the Mail with the intimation that the main purpose of their article was to publicize his homosexuality, and use it against him.

The Mail retorted some hours later with its own scathing statement, shifting the spotlight to Browne's admitted perjury under oath, and excoriating the former C.E.O. for "exploiting the legal system" to pull the wool over shareholders' eyes and defraud the British public.

Of course the original article published in the Daily Mail focuses on neither, but reveals the following:

That Browne discussed European Union policy with Peter Mandelson, the E.U. commissioner, and Mandelson's Brazilian boyfriend Reinaldo.

That BP resources were diverted for the personal use of his boyfriend at the time, a Canadian named Jeff Chevalier. This included computers and technical support staff for use in setting up Chevalier's cell phone ring-tone company.

That Browne went to some lengths to renew Chevalier's visa, and expended large sums of money to support Chevalier's lavish lifestyle over their four years together.

That Chevalier was privy to sensitive information, including BP strategy, conversations with Tony Blair.

That Lord Browne dodged taxes on the renovation of his Venice apartment.

Browne's attempt to play the victim by spinning the media blitz into a discriminatory attack on his sexuality is likely to fall flat. The Mail's pretense of genuine disgust for white lies is equally transparent.

This was the information pulled into focus because it's what readers and shareholders want to read about--the salacious details of a secretive affair, and to a lesser extent, the impact on BP as a business.

by Liz Gunnison

Photograph of John Browne by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images