Mosley faces confidence vote

Motor racing boss Max Mosley is facing a vote of confidence from colleagues after failing to ban footage of him romping with prostitutes.

The sport's governing body the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) will hold a secret ballot on their president's future at an extraordinary general meeting on June 3, a spokesman said.

The news came after Mr Mosley, the son of British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley, failed to get a High Court injunction preventing the News of the World putting a 90-second video involving him and five prostitutes on its website.

He went to the High Court in try to get the clip banned but his application was rejected.

Mr Justice Eady said the events had received massive worldwide coverage in newspapers and on various websites.

He said anyone who wished to access the footage could easily do so and there was no point in barring the News of the World from showing what was already available.

In his ruling, the judge said: "The events took place in the basement of a private flat near Mr Mosley's home and thus, undoubtedly, on private property.

"The session seems to have been devoted mainly to activities which were conveniently described as 'S and M'. They lasted for several hours.

"The very brief extracts which I was shown seemed to consist mainly of people spanking each other's bottoms.

"There is also a scene in which Mr Mosley was pretending to have his head examined for lice.

"This appears to have been part of acting out a prison fantasy, in which he is described as having come from another 'facility'. This is because notions of restraint and punishment are integral to this type of sexual activity.

The judge added that Mr Mosley did not dispute that the events occurred, but maintained that they were private, and denied the newspaper's characterisation of his activities as being "Nazi role-play".

He said: "I have come to the conclusion that the material is so widely accessible that an order in the terms sought would make very little practical difference."

Mr Mosley, who was not in court, is also pursuing a claim for breach of privacy against News Group Newspapers, with a five-day trial expected in July.

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