Wetherspoon boss blasts Turner's bid for Bank

Tim Martin, the pubs boss and long-term sceptic of the euro, yesterday offered his opinion on who should not be the next governor of the Bank of England. Lord Turner, the banker turned regulator who is a leading candidate and has made no secret of his desire to land the job, should turn away now.

The JD Wetherspoon founder said: "The biggest supporter of the euro in an intellectual sense was Adair Turner. I can't believe he has the brass neck to put himself forward as the governor of the Bank of England. By his record, he is the person who least understands money in the whole of Britain."

Evidence that Mr Martin understands both beer and money come in the form of record results for the cheap and cheerful pub operator. Sales are up 12 per cent to £1.19bn, while profits rose 8.4 per cent to £72.4m.

Warming to his theme, Mr Martin added: "If Turner does become governor, I am going to repatriate all of our pubs to France. We'd have to deal with the euro, but at least we wouldn't have to deal with him."

The group enjoyed a boost from screening the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Like-for-like sales in the six weeks to 9 September jumped 8.4 per cent.

Another bee in Mr Martin's bonnet is "tax parity". "We don't mind paying tax, but we should pay the same as the supermarkets do," he said.