MPs to grill ministers over Rover collapse

Former trade and industry secretaries Stephen Byers and Patricia Hewitt are
to appear before a committee of MPs to explain their roles in the collapse of MG
Rover.

According to The Daily Telegraph Peter Luff, the chairman
of the trade and industry committee, also wants the Phoenix Four to give
evidence when the hearings start in Easter.

The committee’s investigation is the fourth into the MG Rover collapse. The
DTI, Accountancy Investigation and Discipline Board and NAO are also
investigating why the car maker folded.

Luff said the investigation was the only such inquiry to look at the
behaviour of Byers when MG Rover was sold by BMW and the role played by Hewitt
during the collapse last year.

He added that it was almost inevitable that MG Rover’s four owners – John
Towers, Peter Beale, John Edwards and Nick Stephenson – would be called before
the committee.

‘It is difficult to avoid calling all of the principals involved – the
Phoenix Four, Stephen Byers and Patricia Hewitt. It will deal with the political
judgments made by the politicians,’ Luff was quoted as saying.

It could take the committee up to five years to report on its findings.