Senior Tory Tim Yeo faces a showdown meeting tomorrow with MPs over whether he should continue chairing a Commons committee following controversy over commercial interests.
Speaking publicly on the row for the first time, Mr Yeo admitted talking to a freight firm boss five days before he appeared before the Commons energy and climate change committee which he chairs.
But he denies “coaching” John Smith, the managing director of GB Rail Freight, a subsidiary of Groupe Eurotunnel SA, of which Mr Yeo has been a director and shareholder since 2007.
Mr Yeo told BBC radio: “What happened was I travelled with the person concerned in the company of two other people, five days before his appearance before the committee, in a train...
“I spoke very briefly to him about his forthcoming appearance in front of the committee so I could explain to him that because of the business connection between us, which of course was properly declared and registered, I wouldn’t take part in questioning.”
Mr Yeo has referred himself to the Commons anti-sleaze watchdog after being targeted in a sting operation by The Sunday Times.
He strongly denies any wrongdoing. Reporters approached him posing as representatives of a solar energy firm, offering to hire him at £7,000 a day to push for new laws to boost its business.
A Downing Street source said Mr Yeo’s decision to refer himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards was the “right thing” to do.
