Needham is offered third export job

DONALD MACINTYRE

Political Editor

The saga of Richard Needham's relaunch as a businessman within months of ending his ministerial career took a new twist yesterday with confirmation that he had been offered a third exporting job - with the United Kingdom's fastest growing vacuum cleaner firm.

Mr Needham, who has already been cleared to join GEC as overseas director, has now sought the permission of Lord Carlisle, chairman of the Civil Service Advisory Committee on outside appointments, to join the Wiltshire- based Dyson Appliances as a non-executive board member.

Dyson has secured the agreement of Mr Needham to join the firm, which is in his constituency, provided that Lord Carlisle approves it as conforming with the regulations expected in the wake of Lord Nolan's report on standards in public life. Mr Needham, who has already confirmed he is also to be a non-executive director of Mivan, a Northern Ireland construction firm, has been strongly criticised by the Labour Party over his appointment to GEC, a company with which he frequently dealt as minister responsible for exports.

The controversy will be re-opened today when Ann Clwyd, Labour MP for Cynon Valley, unveils a detailed critique of British aid to Indonesia. She will draw attention to the close links between top figures in GEC and point out that GEC has secured state funding under Aid for Trade provisions for more contracts than any other firm apart from Balfour Beatty. She will also point out that since August 1993 while DB Newlands, GEC's group finance director, was a member of the Export Guarantees Advisory Council, which advises ministers and officials on export credit matters - a period in which Mr Needham was trade minister - 21 guarantees were issued for GEC projects.

Her dossier also claims that Mr Needham - who was a personal assistant to Lord Prior, the GEC chairman, when Lord Prior was in the shadow Cabinet in the seventies - was responsible as minister for approving export licences and credits for Hawk aircraft sales to Indonesia. GEC-Marconi Defence systems provide electronic equipment for Hawk aircraft. He accompanied Lord Prior on a trade mission to China in October 1992.

James Dyson, founder-chairman of Dyson Appliances, said yesterday that he did not expect Lord Carlisle to have any objections to Mr Needham joining his board since he had not had any dealings with the company as a minister, as opposed to taking an interest in it as a constituency MP.

He said that Mr Needham's role would largely be to advise the company - which has seen its UK turnover increase from pounds 10 to pounds 60m in three years - on export growth.