(posted 7159 days ago)Telegraph
How the Royal Oak rebels hatched Commons plot over a pint
By Charlie Methven and Oliver Poole
(Filed: 17/09/2004)To the regulars at the Royal Oak pub they appeared to be just another group of friends having a drink after work on a Tuesday night.
Excited but nervous, the group sat huddled together in a corner of the pub, near Maidenhead, Berks, chatting in low voices.
They weren't talking about work, or football, or anything else as mundane. They were discussing how to mount one of the most audacious political stunts in living memory, the invasion of the House of Commons.
Those assembled included a close friend of Princes William and Harry, a former chef to the Queen and a professional polo player.
All until that day were law abiding. They had volunteered to take part in the extraordinary plot because they were passionate about one thing: hunting. They were excited, but also terrified.
"As you can imagine, people were rather excitable at that stage," said a friend. "It just isn't the kind of thing that people like us are used to doing, so they weren't exactly all cool and collected."
As the group drank their beers, Otis Ferry, 21, the son of Bryan Ferry, the Roxy Music singer, was at home in London after mounting a successful, one-man dry run earlier that day.
He had managed to gain access to the House of Commons, getting as close to the chamber as necessary. It meant that the plan would go ahead for real the next day.
"It had worked like a dream," said a friend later of the dry run. "He is ingenious," said another friend.
"Otis was very much the brains behind it. He contacted the Countryside Action Network, a direction action group, about a week before to say he was planning something naughty.
"He told them he needed a few more bodies. They didn't ask any questions."
Among the group in the pub was Nick Wood, 41, a personal chef to Lady Weinstock and former cook to the Queen and the designer Valentino.
Along with Ferry, he was understood to be the "brains" behind the plot.
A "solid and reliable guy" according to friends, he was, like many of the group, a fixture in polo and hunting circles, although he had never hunted.
Earlier that day, he had travelled with others who were taking part in the protest to the homes of two friends near Maidenhead, one of the main meeting points. One was the home of Robert Thame, a professional polo player and a member of the Bicester and Whaddon Chase Hunt.
The other was the home of Nick Evans, also a professional polo player, and his wife Carina, a former bobsleigh champion.
"They chose the two houses as places to meet because Maidenhead is much closer to London than where most of them live, and also it is close to the M4," said the friend.
"Nick and Carina Evans weren't involved but Robert Thame and Nick Wood were ushers at their wedding so they knew they could be trusted."
Two plans were under discussion in the pub. The first: how to block roads in central London. The second: how to invade the Commons.
As Nick Wood held court, the others listened. Luke Tomlinson, 27, one of Britain's top polo players and a friend of Princes William and Harry was one of the group. Also there was Robert Thame. Others who were not due to be part of the Commons team were also part of the group.
"The first thing they wanted to do was try to block the roads using the trucks they had brought with them," said a friend.
"I think Luke Tomlinson may have been driving one of them, but others were driven by people who weren't part of the Commons team.
"Obviously, the second part of the plan was to get into the Houses of Parliament."
After meeting in the pub for "a bit of a hooly", the group returned to the respective homes, where some camped in tents in the gardens for the night.
David Redvers, 34, a stud owner at Hartpury, near Gloucester, joined them the following morning. Early the next day, the four men dressed in the clothes that would help them gain access to the Commons.
Workmen's overalls, which would provide them with the disguise to enter the Parliament buildings, were worn over the top of business suits, which would then allow the group to pose as researchers once near the chamber.
Pro-hunting T-shirts were worn beneath that. "The idea with the dress was to be as flexible as possible, so that they could react to the circumstances as required," said a friend.
The trucks set off for London at 5am the next day. But the road-blocking plan failed to work.
The trucks were impounded and taken to Kennington. It meant "all systems" go for the second part of the plan. "The drivers and passengers just walked from Kennington over the river to Westminster," said a friend.
By this time, it was nearing midday and the protest in Parliament Square was gathering pace.
The four then met up with the others who would join them in trying to get into the Commons.
They included Richard Wakeham, 36, a point to point jockey who rides with the Middleton Hunt, Andrew Elliott, 42, an auctioneer at Brightwells, the largest equine auctioneers in Britain, and a loss adjustor from York.
Elliott and Redvers were friends, linked by the Ledbury Hunt.
They also knew John Holliday, who stood to lose his job with the Ledbury Hunt kennels once the hunting ban came into force. He was also with the group.
"They seemed pretty normal," said one who saw some of the plotters at that stage.
Some hours later, at 3.50pm, a constituent who was discussing matters with his MP spotted a well known pro-hunting campaigner entering the Commons.
He motioned to the man, who was posing as a contractor and who responded by signalling to him to keep quiet.
Once outside, the constituent alerted a police officer. The officer appeared to be uninterested.
The constituent then approached a police inspector who promised he would look into it.
Half an hour later, the protesters burst into the chamber.
"I think they were as surprised as everyone else that they managed to get as far as they did," said a friend.