HC Deb 29 November 1955 vol 546 cc2109-11
27. Mr. Roy Jenkins

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will take steps to increase the number of Government-appointed directors on the board of the British Petroleum Company.

Mr. R. A. Butler

No, Sir.

Mr. Jenkins

Will the Chancellor not agree that it is thoroughly undesirable that this Government-controlled company should flout the appeals for dividend restraint within a day of his having made them. What does he propose to do about that?

Mr. Butler

I was asked the specific question whether I would increase the number of directors and my answer was "No." The hon. Member's point, although important, raises somewhat wider issues which I cannot answer in reply to the Question.

Mr. Gaitskell

Can the Chancellor say whether he received any information from the Government-appointed directors that this increase of the dividend was contemplated? If so, what advice did he give to the Government-appointed directors?

Mr. Butler

There is a later Question on the Order Paper which I should not like to prejudice by an advanced answer.

39. Mr. Collins

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the date on which Mr. F. E. Harmer and Sir Gordon Munro reported to Her Majesty's Government the intention of the Board of Directors of British Petroleum Limited to declare an interim dividend eight times larger than the previous one.

Mr. R. A. Butler

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the then Economic Secretary, to the hon. Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Beswick) on 27th November, 1952, when he said: I regret that I cannot disclose information about communications which pass between Her Majesty's Government and their representatives."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 27th November, 1952; Vol. 508, c. 610.]

Mr. Collins

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this grossly inflated dividend, coming only one day after he had made his Budget speech urging restraint in dividend and wage claims, makes nonsense of that speech when the dividend is declared by a Government-controlled company? Will he not, therefore, look at the matter again and say whether or not he did give any instruction to the Government-appointed directors?

Mr. Butler

No. I am not prepared to go further than my reply, and I do not think that any Government would be prepared to do so; but I am prepared to remind the hon. Gentleman of what the Economic Secretary told him on 10th November—that in the light of the statement made at the meeting of the company in December we should suspend judgment until the total distribution for the year is known.

Mr. Gaitskell

To clarify the position, would the Chancellor say whether, as Chancellor, he does accept or does not accept responsibility for what the two Government-appointed directors do when they are members of the British Petroleum Company's board?

Mr. Butler

A certain practice has been followed for these directors by every Government since 1914. It is not to interfere in the commercial management of the company but to let them play their ordinary part as directors. The present Government directors are following the policy which has been followed by Government directors under every Government since that date.