HC Deb 27 July 1960 vol 627 cc1627-8
19. Mr. Ness Edwards

asked the Postmaster-General why the application of an ex-Post Office servant to be allowed to take employment with a non-ring firm was refused, whilst application for permission to join a ring firm was allowed.

Mr. Bevins

I assume that the right hon. Gentleman is referring to two separate persons. I am satisfied that to authorise the second person to accept an appointment with the Marconi Group was proper and consistent with the principles which govern these matters. The Post Office has no bulk purchasing agreement with this Group and the specific intention of the appointment is to help in developing the export side of the Group's activities.

I was not responsible for the earlier case, but the circumstances were quite different.

Mr. Ness Edwards

Is not the allegation made by Mr. Stanley in the document he has circulated that the Postmaster-General has given preferential treatment to the employment of an ex-Post Office official by the ring people and that they have excluded or kept out for two years another official who wanted a job with someone outside the ring who wanted to engage in the export business? Is he really satisfied that there is no basis for the allegation by Mr. Stanley?

Mr. Bevins

I have not, I must say, seen the paper to which the right hon. Gentleman refers, although I have heard of it, but if the suggestion is that the second gentleman referred to in my Answer has been permitted to take up an appointment with a firm or group which is party to a bulk supply agreement with the Post Office, that suggestion is wholly without foundation.