AEEU leader attacks Moulton's Rover gibes

Sir Ken Jackson, the head of the AEEU engineering union, last night launched a furious attack on Jon Moulton, the venture capitalist who failed in his bid for Rover when BMW instead sold it to the Phoenix consortium.

Sir Ken Jackson, the head of the AEEU engineering union, last night launched a furious attack on Jon Moulton, the venture capitalist who failed in his bid for Rover when BMW instead sold it to the Phoenix consortium.

Mr Moulton, managing director of Alchemy Partners, has claimed that Rover would be fighting for survival by next March and that there was a sweepstake in his office about when it would close.

Sir Ken, general secretary of the AEEU, said: "Mr Moulton is a bad loser. Asset strippers are only as good as their last deal and he missed out on the biggest deal of his life. He should take the chip off his shoulder and get on with his life. People will be appalled by his sweepstake on the livelihoods of 50,000 people. It is an example of his profession at its very worst."

A Phoenix spokeswoman refused to comment on Mr Moulton's remarks, made to a Marketing Society conference in London.