A top Tory who sold millions of pounds of shares weeks before a profit warning sent the price tumbling has defended his actions.
Conservative Party treasurer Michael Spencer, who is chief executive of City firm Icap, sold £14.5 million worth of the company's shares last month, three weeks before a profit warning that saw the share price fall by nearly a fifth.
Anyone who bought the shares and still holding them would have lost a third of their investment.
He told The Times that suggestions he had acted improperly were "ridiculous", adding: "The proper procedure was followed."
Icap warned that its annual profits would be between £295 million and £315 million, lower than the average City forecast of £336 million. Shares slumped more than 19%, or 71.1p to 294p.
Multi-millionaire Mr Spencer - who sold 3.3 million shares for 440p on January 11 - told The Times: "By definition, as you very well know, I wouldn't have sold those shares at that time had I been aware that we were facing a profit warning. That's a statement of fact and a supportable fact.
"I got clearance from my chairman, as you would have expected, and the whole thing was handled properly."
The revelation prompted one opposition politician to call for Mr Spencer's removal as Conservative treasurer, a position he has held since February 2007.
Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Lord Oakeshott said: "This is a real test of David Cameron's wobbly leadership. He must sack Michael Spencer now as Tory treasurer."
Under market abuse rules, employees of a company are not allowed to trade using inside information.
