Our Man With the Royal Family

by Milos Vasic and a group of VREME researchers

The speedy and brilliant career of a young British conservative, the man the Serbs see as "our man in London" could end abruptly; the British police filed charges against him for blackmail. The whole thing is embarrassing because four royal families are involved, ministers, deputies, money and Radovan Karadzic

The 29 year old John Kennedy is worthy of Balzac. His real name and identity have been carefully fogged over by his persistent denials of rumors: in Belgrade they say he was an orphan in the Serbian capital adopted by a British consular official and her Montenegrin husband; he claims roots in the "Montenegrin nobility" which earned him the title "Prince of Suburbo-Croatia" in some London circles; others believe he is distantly related to the Karadjordjevic dynasty but they haven't confirmed that.

It seems his real name is Jovan Gvozdenovic, changed to Kennedy which he says is his mother's name. That flexibility of identity makes him similar to John/Jovan/Omer Zametica. Wherever he's from, or whatever his name is, he grew up in Carshulton in Surrey and attended a public school in Croydon in London.

In the late 1980s Kennedy appeared among the Young Conservatives of Greater London as an important activist. That was at the time of fierce Thatcherism and Kennedy's orientation was right: he drew ever closer to the party's right wing, became a member of two important informal groups (Monday Club and Bow Group), linked up with influential party figures and become a researcher in the House of Lords and ended up in Henry Ballingham's team (private secretary to Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind) which was important when the scandal broke out. Ballingham's position is important in the British system because it is a semi-formal link between the minister and House of Commons, including sensitive information and, more importantly, possible influence on current policies. Kennedy joined the lobbying and consolidated his position. In the meantime he formed the John Kennedy Associates, registered for lobbying.

How or where Kennedy joined the Serb lobby isn't clear. Probably, this happened through the Karadjordjevic family. He was once described as an advisor and business partner to Prince Vladimir Karadjordjevic, Prince Andrija's son. Anyhow, Kennedy formally appeared among the Serbs in the spring of 1991 when state TV showed him as a guest of honor at a SPS tribunal. He was noticed by Petar Lukovic (VREME) then and Kennedy became one of the permanent heroes in his column.

From the very start regime propaganda described him as a candidate for parliament. In 1989, he was a favorite of the Conservative right wing and earmarked as a candidate for parliament which he stayed for ever. We know he really did run for parliament in 1992 in Barking. That campaign was run by a man he calls his distant relative, Prince Tomislav Karadjordjevic; the man who was offered the throne of all the Serb states and Idriz El Sanusi, pretender to the Libyan throne; a rich advertising agent.

His election defeat did not prevent him from establishing close ties with the Milosevic regime: ever since the start in 1992, Kennedy travelled here every so often with media promotion worthy of a minister. Prince Vladimir took him on tour to meet Patriarch Pavle, Milosevic, Blagoje Adzic, Borislav Jovic, Karadzic and others. In London, Kennedy appeared on ITN TV for Karadzic at least twice and again as a signatory of a letter from Karadzic to the British parliament. Kennedy wrote to the Bundestag, made statements and spread the truth about Serbia. In early 1992, he started a business association with Ian Greer Associates, a prominent London lobbying company for several Yugoslav companies.

Kennedy lowered the number of his visits to Serb lands in 1993 since the British lobbyists broke off contacts with him when the sanctions were imposed and the Serb cause became unpopular. He turned elsewhere.

Kennedy's position in Westminster gave him advantages. He talked to everyone of consequence. Obviously his contacts were not just regular activities or MI-5 would not have a file on him. The whole thing ended in his arrest.

Kennedy was released on bail and stated that he has no idea what it was all about. His partner Anthony Bailley said the whole thing is absurd.

The Sunday Times appeared on the scene finally saying it had a complete MI-5 dossier on Kennedy and a number of documents from a foreign intelligence service.

London sources just shrug; all that sounds too good to be true although there is some political logic to it.

Also, it's no secret that there are good business links between Yugoslavia and Britain despite the sanctions.

Kennedy raised his voice to claim this was all an anti-Serb plot. The Times said he had been under surveillance for two years because of his pro-Serb stands.