Smith anger at Armouries claim

Former Culture Secretary Chris Smith accused the Commons spending watchdog of carrying out a "perfunctory" investigation before it attacked him in a report for wasting taxpayers' money.

He reacted with fury to an investigation by the Public Accounts Committee into the collapse of the privately run Royal Armouries museum in Leeds. The report, published last week, claimed Mr Smith effectively bailed out the company by more than £10million when it ran into difficulties.

Today Mr Smith denied the charges. He said: "I think they did it in a very perfunctory fashion and did not ask the right questions. I will certainly be talking to Edward Leigh (the committee's chairman) to make sure that the record is put straight."

The £43million museum was built as a new home for the Tower of London's collection of royal weapons despite criticism tourists would not travel to Leeds. When it opened in 1996 it soon ran into difficulties with visitor numbers falling below projections. In 1999 Mr Smith stepped in when debts threatened to close the attraction.

The public sector took over the museum but private operator Royal Armouries (International) kept control of catering and car parks. Bank of Scotland wrote off the private company's debts. The committee accused Mr Smith of making a "mockery" of the rule that private firms which join private finance initiative schemes are paid to take on risk.

Mr Smith today insisted he had " negotiated a good deal for the taxpayer". In a letter to the Evening Standard, he said no taxpayers' money had been paid to Royal Armouries and only £1million of extra public funds was spent keeping the museum going.

He said initial privatisation was "botched" adding: "The private company running the museum was in major financial trouble. There was no 'bail out'. There was an agreement the public sector should take back running the museum."