§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the directors appointed as Government appointed directors of British Telecom since 1984 with their dates of appointment; what is Her Majesty's Government's policy with regard to the appointment of such directors; and under what legal provisions such appointments are made.
§ Mr. LeighUnder the terms of BT's articles of association, the Government hold a 'special share' in BT. By virtue of their status as special shareholder, the Government are entitled to appoint up to two directors to the BT board.
There have been four such directors to date:
Mr. Graeme Odgers was nominated as Government director on 20 September 1984 and relinquished this post on 30 September 1986;Mr. John Raisman was appointed as Government director on 20 September 1984 and relinquished this post on 30 September 1987;Mr. Paul Bosonnet was appointed as Government director on 1 October 1986 and relinquished this post on 30 September 1991;577WMr. Geoffrey Mulcahy was nominated as Government director of BT on 19 October 1988. His current terms of appointment run until 19 October 1993. In addition to discharging the function of Government-appointed director, Mr. Mulcahy is a director of BT in his own right.The Government's present policy in this area is that they do not plan to appoint a second Government director. The Government will keep the longer term issue of Government directors to BT in general under review.