PSA drops ‘negative’ McCarthy

THE Passenger Shipping Association has dropped former hostage John McCarthy as speaker for its annual dinner – after comments McCarthy made about kidnapping in Travel Weekly.

McCarthy, who spent five years in captivity at the hands of Islamic Jihad extremists, was interviewed in connection with his role as keynote speaker at the Advantage Business Travel conference in Copenhagen next month.

The PSA decided to axe McCarthy for the September 22 event after he warned, in response to a question posed by Travel Weekly, that Britons faced a greater risk of kidnap due to the UK’s involvement in Iraq.

PSA director Bill Gibbons expressed concern that McCarthy had commented in Travel Weekly on the current hostage situation.

“We hired John McCarthy on the basis he would talk about his experiences in Beirut 13 years ago,” he said.

McCarthy, who now works regularly as a public speaker, will talk at the Advantage Business Travel conference on October 11 and 12. He said he hoped his speech would be a “positive” advertisement for travel, something he has continued to do so since his ordeal. McCarthy even returned to Beirut earlier this year.

Advantage director of business travel Norman Gage said the PSA had made the wrong decision. “The comments on kidnapping were 20% of the conversation and were written for Travel Weekly’s readers, not for members of the PSA.” He added: “Anybody from the PSA looking forward to an articulate and upfront speaker is welcome to come to Copenhagen with us.”

Gage added McCarthy is an “interesting man of our times”, who was expected to be thought-provoking and challenging. The PSA has replaced McCarthy with comedian and former Cross Wits presenter Tom O’Connor.