MPs and peers face boardroom cull

PEERS and MPs could fall foul of a proposed law to curb the number of company boards individuals may sit on, research showed today. Parliamentarians hold 819 directorships between them, with one in three Tory MPs and half of all Tory peers holding at least one boardroom post.

The Government is examining the issue after former Tory energy minister Lord Wakeham was forced to resign as chairman of the Press Complaints Commission following the scandal at collapsed US energy trading group Enron, where he was a non-executive director.

Reformers claim that individuals who rack up large numbers of directorships are unable to devote enough time to each company.

Next month the Government is expected to publish the findings of a review led by merchant banker Derek Higgs, which is examining the question of limiting directorships. The Liberal Democrats and the TUC have called for a maximum of five directorships per person.

Yet at least 20 MPs and peers hold more than five posts and would have to resign from some if the idea became law. While most directorships at Westminster are held by Tories, the top two individuals are Lib-Dem peer Lord Razzall, with 21, and former Labour Treasury spokesman Viscount Chandos, with 17.

Tim Razzall, 59, Britain's most popular 'lord on the board', is one of party leader Charles Kennedy's closest aides. The genial peer is a member of Soho House club and lists a house in the Bahamas alongside his directorships in the Lords register of interests. Last year he oversaw the £2 million sellout of struggling C&B Publishing, where he was non-executive chairman, to media group Chrysalis.

Top of the Commons directorships table is Tory MP Ian Taylor who holds eight posts. Three more Tories - Tony Baldry, Howard Flight and Andrew Mitchell - hold seven. Geoffrey Robinson is top of the Labour MPs with six although only 3% of Labour MPs hold directorships.

Viscount Thurso, 48, is the first hereditary peer to be elected as an MP since Tony Blair reformed the second chamber. The Old Etonian with his trademark bushy moustache cuts a striking figure on the Commons benches. He is a hotelier who learned his trade at the Savoy, and regularly speaks up for the hospitality industry.

Lord Sharman, who headed the Lib-Dem working group that recommended setting the limit at five, holds eight posts according to the most recent register of interests tallied by the Financial Times.

TUC general secretary John Monks said: 'With a full-time job representing constituents as well, the idea of MPs doing a proper job for many companies, even as a non-executive, is just pie in the sky.'