Byers accused of 'doing a Jo Moore'

STEPHEN BYERS was accused of 'burying bad news' last night after revealing damaging new details about Railtrack's demise while the Chancellor was giving his pre-Budget speech.

Just minutes after Gordon Brown rose to speak in the Commons, Transport Secretary Byers published official minutes of a meeting which he has repeatedly claimed would back up his reasons for sending the company to the wall.

But when MPs received the three-page document, they found no evidence to justify his claim that Railtrack boss John Robinson had said the firm would 'not be a going concern' without a massive cash injection from the taxpayer.

The lack of any mention of this in the documents is another embarrassment for Byers, who has based his case for throwing Railtrack into the hands of the administrators on Robinson's alleged confession at the key 25 July meeting.

The Railtrack boss on Tuesday night said Byers's entire case was 'spin and smokescreen'. And senior Tories condemned the absence of evidence and attacked Byers' decision to release the papers when the political focus was elsewhere.

Former Tory trade spokesman John Redwood accused Byers of 'doing a Jo Moore' - referring to his political adviser who sent an email suggesting that 11 September was a good day to 'bury' bad news. Ms Moore was denounced by Tony Blair for her 'horrible and wrong' decision after the terror attacks on America.

'Once again we have typical Labour news management, putting out the bad news under the cover of the Pre-Budget statement,' said Redwood.

'It is ironic that Mr Brown must be hopping mad at how much the Railtrack mess is going to cost him - and they use his Budget for their tortured account of this meeting.'

Tory transport spokesman Theresa May said: 'Stephen Byers has always claimed that it was because of his conversation with John Robinson on 25 July that he decided to put Railtrack into administration. The official minute does not back up Mr Byers' claims. This really looks extremely fishy.'

The Transport Secretary only released the minutes under extreme pressure. Tuesday was the final deadline for handing the documents over to the influential Commons transport select committee, which has demanded them.

Byers appears to have been seriously worried by the impact the papers would have. He also attached to the official minute a separate 'supplementary note'.

It appears an attempt to make good the damage done by the fact that official minutes do not back him up. It claims that 'on the recollection of all those present on the Government side', Mr Robinson had said: 'Railtrack's financial situation was more serious than John Robinson had previously thought.'

But senior Tories pointed out that even this note did not support Byers' repeated statements that Mr Robinson had demanded a 'blank cheque' at the July encounter.

Byers is now bound to face searching questions about the revelation. He categorically told the Commons on November 13 that Robinson had demanded a letter of support from the Government to show to the banks otherwise they would not be able to access overdraft facilities.

The Transport Secretary has repeatedly said that it was Robinson's private warning that Railtrack was not viable that prompted him to start moves towards putting the firm into administration. But according to the official minutes, the only mention of Railtrack's financial position at the meeting was that Robinson had said he was 'continuing to review Railtrack's management and finances'.

The minute goes on: 'It would take another year to return to pre-Hatfield performance levels and probably three years to get performance to a level the company could be proud of. Turning things round was not a question of more investment, but rather running the company properly.'

Robinson described the minutes of his meeting as a ' vindication' of his stance since 5 October that no conversation on Railtrack's financial viability took place on 25 July.

'Since Railtrack went into administration we have had spin and smokescreen hiding the truth about what Railtrack was talking to the Government about,' he said. 'Now the truth is out in black and white, perhaps people can understand our frustration and anger at the treatment of the company and its shareholders.'