Pressure mounts for Luff to quit
12 July 1999
Pressure mounts for Luff to quit
By FWi staff
PETER Luff, the Conservative chairman of the House of Commons Agriculture Select Committee, is under mounting pressure to quit his post.
Mr Luff has apologised to the committee since it emerged last week that he earns thousands of pounds from a lobbying firm linked to the biotechnology giant Monsanto.
But several committee members are unhappy and will tomorrow call for a vote of no confidence in his chairmanship, according to The Express newspaper.
They are not satisfied with Mr Luffs acknowledgement that he “should have told you all sooner” about his work for Bell Pottinger, which names Monsanto as a client.
“I apologise to those of you who feel I was less than honest with you – this was not my intention,” Mr Luff wrote.
A vote of no confidence in Mr Luffs chairmanship would succeed if the members of the Agriculture Committee voted along party lines.
Seven members of the 10-strong committee are Labour MPs, one is a Lib Dem, and only two, including Mr Luff, are Conservatives.