Clearly by looking at this matter and the other complaints you have already

“Clearly, by looking at this matter and the other complaints you have already investigated, it can be seen that Mr Robinson has made little or no effort to understand the rules and implement them properly,” Mr Clifton-Brown said in his letter.He told The Independent the time had come for Mr Robinson to resign. “A Treasury minister with this kind of circumstantial evidence against him should seriously consider his position,” he said.The seven directorships were of Fenworth Ltd, Fenworth (Woodchester) Ltd, Laserpeak Developments, Forceleague Ltd, MH Marine, Earby Light Engineers Ltd andMatrix Grinding Technologies. Matrix Grinding acquired the right to manufacture and sell grinding machines from the receiver of Matrix Churchill Ltd, which had collapsed after becoming embroiled in the arms-to-Iraq scandal.Although none of the directorships was remunerated, a parliamentary rule change in June 1993 required MPs to list such posts when they were with a subsidiary of another firm by which they were paid.Mr Robinson registered his directorship of TransTec PLC, formerly Transfer Technology Group PLC, but never mentioned the companies it had bought on the register. The first public register of interests after the rule- change came out in January 1994, just after Mr Robinson resigned leaving other TransTec directors on the companies’ boards. However, an examination of interim registers from the intervening six months shows the MP did not list the interests.The Tories also demanded an investigation yesterday into the reason Mr Robinson, when chairman of Hollis Industries, a company controlled by Robert Maxwell, sold two subsidiary firms for pounds 2.98m in 1991 to another company he and Maxwell ran.

The two engineering companies – Lock International and PSS Group – were said to have been resold in hours for more than pounds 1m profit to another company controlled by Mr Robinson and Mr Maxwell.Friends of Mr Robinson sayhe has been the victim of a smear campaign. “The Tories are accusing Geoffrey Robinson of making too much money,” a senior Treasury source said. “It is ridiculous and they will not stop him from continuing his excellent job as Paymaster-General.”Since becoming a minister in May last year, he has been plagued by press revelations about his business interests.First there were complaints about Mr Robinson’s connection with the pounds 12m Guernsey-based Orion Trust. Although Sir Gordon found the minister had broken no rules in not registering his interest in the trust, he said Mr Robinson had made a “mistake” and it would have been “better” had he done so.Then in July this year the minister was rebuked for not fully registering two directorships, in the engineering company Swiss EDM/Agie UK and in TransTec.

However, the Standards and Privileges Committee, which considers the commissioner’s findings, did not impose any punishment.This month Mr Robinson was asked to apologise for not registering an interest in an administrative company, Stenbell, but was cleared of wrongdoing for not registeringinterests in some Italian property companies. He also registered an interest in an American company, Roll Center, which he owned between 1988 and 1992.Leading article,Review, page 3. JACK STRAW will be warned today that he faces a rebellion by 120 Labour MPs if he allows General Augusto Pinochet to return to Chile to face trial in his own country. The Home Secretary, who faces the most agonising decision of his career, came under strong pressure yesterday from the Chilean government for the 83-year-old former dictator to be brought to justice in his homeland.
But Chile’s move was dismissed as a “smokescreen” by the MPs, who warned that General Pinochet would never be tried if he were allowed to return home.This week Mr Straw will weigh up representations on the case made before today’s deadline.

He has until 11 December to decide whether the general should face extradition to Spain, which wants to prosecute him for murder and torture during his regime, after last week’s ruling by the law lords that the general does not enjoy immunity from prosecution.The evidence submitted to Mr Straw includes a strongl worded plea from the all-party Parliamentary Human Rights Group, which has been passed to The Independent. Most of its 150 members are Labour MPs, and its letter will leave the Home Secretary in no doubt that he would alienate a huge section of Labour Party opinion if he allowed General Pinochet to return to Chile.Although the Commons would have no opportunity to block Mr Straw’s decision, one former minister said yesterday: “He would never be forgiven if he gets this wrong. For a lot of us, he would be finished.”In their letter to Mr Straw, the MPs said: “Claims have been made that General Pinochet would face prosecution if he were allowed to return to Chile. These cases stand no chance of success given the constitutional blocks provided by the amnesty laws.