Burnside keeps his seat with BA

THE BRITISH AIRWAYS dirty tricks saga became ever more mysterious last night after a day of high intrigue that left the City, shareholders and the outside world no clearer as to whether anyone would be reprimanded over the affair.

David Burnside, BA's director of public affairs, began the day in angry mood confiding to colleagues that he expected to lose his job for his part in the campaign against Virgin Atlantic. But he ended the day still in his seat.

Meanwhile Sir Colin Marshall, BA's chief executive and chairman-designate, sent out a new code of business conduct to the airline's 50,000 staff, declaring the need to be 'cleaner than clean'. But he remained silent on whether any employee would be dismissed for the 'disreputable' activities that had been directed against Virgin.

Mr Burnside had a 15-minute encounter with Sir Colin yesterday morning before going on for lunch with Lord King, the BA chairman, and Sir Tim Bell, the public relations guru who has been drafted in to handle all press inquiries about the Virgin affair in place of Mr Burnside.

Mr Burnside refused to comment other than to say: 'I worked for BA yesterday. I am working for BA today and I intend to work for BA tomorrow. I read the press with as much surprise as anybody.'

Sir Colin's code of conduct, grouped under headings such as fairness, integrity, honesty and openness, urges BA staff to be prepared to 'be prepared to challenge' anyone acting unethically and not to tolerate 'any form of retribution against those who do speak up'.