Spottiswoode admits a marital love affair

CLARE Spottiswoode, the director-general of gas supply (Ofgas), has denied having a love affair with anyone other than her husband, writes Cal McCrystal.

'Tittle-tattle' to the contrary served the purpose of those wanting to 'kill' any legislation to make the gas industry competitive, she says.

Ms Spottiswoode was questioned by a Commons committee last week following allegations that she had a close relationship with John Michell, under-secretary for oil and gas at the Department of Trade and Industry, the body that appointed her gas 'watchdog' six months ago. She explained her motives in sending flowers to Mr Michell on the day she was formally appointed: 'partly because he was the civil servant in charge of the appointments procedure . . . and partly because he'd organised office space, introduced me to people, tried to smooth my path coming into this very difficult job'.

As for their shared trips overseas, these too were purely professional: 'There is no way, had I been a man, that anyone would have thought anything about going away on a one-day trip to Brussels or a five-day trip to Canada. It makes it difficult if every time you go on a busy and hectic business trip, you have to worry about the propriety of it.'

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