Lord Simon: in the eye of a political storm

Lord Simon Hits Back at Critics

Lord Simon, the former BP chairman who became the Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe in Tony Blair's Government, rejected what he termed unsubstantiated "charges and innuendoes".

In an angry attack on the Tories pursuing the affair, Lord Simon criticised "what was once the party of business" and warned that such campaigns could deter other senior business figures from playing roles in government.

Writing in The Times, Lord Simon strongly defended himself against the Tory onslaught. "The first charge is that my continuing shareholding in BP is a conflict of interest with my ministerial responsibilities. There is no substance to this charge," he said.

"The day I entered my new office I took advice from the Permanent Secretary at the department. I was advised to put my non-BP holdings into a blind trust, which I have done," he continued.

"This was not appropriate for my BP shares. It was decided that I should keep my BP shares until the situation is reviewed next January, when a further assessment of my access to insider knowledge can be made. Until then none of my BP shares will be traded. In the meantime steps have been taken to ensure that I do not allow any conflict of interest between my BP shareholding and my official business," explained Lord Simon.

He maintained that no BP-specific matters come before him for consideration. "The job given to me by the Prime Minister is to help British industry compete more effectively in Europe," he stressed. "If I am doing my job effectively I will benefit BP as well as every other company in Britain. I make no apology for that. But attempts to claim that such generic decisions represent a conflict of interest border on the absurd."

Lord Simon insisted: "I understand the Opposition and the media have a duty to ensure that the high standards in public life to which this Government is committed are being maintained. But the facts in my case simply do not support their charges and innuendoes."

And he warned: "I have a thick skin and will not be deflected from the challenge of helping Britain to win in Europe. My one regret is that the row generated by the Opposition may make other businessmen wary of becoming involved in government."

Lord Simon was defended by the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, speaking on the Today programme.

John Prescott quizzed by John Humphrys
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Tory Party chairman Lord Parkinson said he did not want to see any "witch-hunts" in the case of Lord Simon. "I think this is a rather unfortunate incident and an unnecessary incident and I would have preferred to have seen it resolved much earlier by Lord Simon," he said.

Lord Parkinson, the Tory Party Chariman, on Lord Simon's threats of libel action
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"But we're not interested in witch-hunts. We're just interested in seeing that the rules are observed." He said that Lord Simon's threat of libel writs was not productive: "I think it's a very very sad day for democracy and politics if you have to start threatening people who raise legitimate questions with action in the courts."