Letter: Minister and shares

Sir: Margaret Beckett in her letter to you (13 October) still refuses to clarify which shares Nigel Griffiths owns. She has received several letters from me as she declines to tell us if Mr Griffiths, or his wife, own shares in P&O and in ICI. Why will she not tell us? Her letter leaves open whether some shares have passed to them rather than his sister. I have always made it clear that if the shares were owned by Mr Griffiths' sister I could see no problem with him continuing on the inquiry.

Why will Mrs Beckett not publish a list of all the shares owned by ministers in her department, whether they are now transferred to a blind trust or not and on what date they were transferred?

I see Nigel Griffiths has been involved with "over 100 competition decisions and issues". Would Mrs Beckett name them, at the same time as publishing a definitive list of the issues and companies which Mr Griffiths cannot handle? Mrs Beckett has not clarified which papers Nigel Griffiths saw prior to announcing an interest on 8 May and what decision he took on P&O/Stena before he withdrew from the case.

JOHN REDWOOD

Shadow President of the Board of Trade

House of Commons