Spotlight on clean-up crusader

DEREK Higgs, the man in charge of a Government drive to reform British boardrooms, is coming under fire over his own portfolio of directorships.

The merchant banker has been charged by Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt to improve the quality of independent non-executive directors in the wake of the Enron scandal. But critics are now raising questions about Higgs' own network of non-executive roles.

Eyebrows have been raised at the fact that he sits on the board of Coventry City football club alongside former Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson, who quit the Government over a home loan to Peter Mandelson.

Higgs made his name as a top dealmaker at investment bank Warburgs and now works there as a part-time consultant. Other roles include non-executive directorships of scandal-hit Allied Irish Banks, property company British Land, internet bank Egg, and Partnerships UK, a Treasury spin-off fostering public-private partnerships.

There are a number of links between Higgs, Warburg, PUK, British Land and Network Rail, the Government-backed company bidding to take over Railtrack.

British Land has a stake in PUK, which has acted as an adviser to Network Rail. Warburg is in line for multi-million pound fees as Network Rail's financial adviser. If Network Rail's bid succeeds, it will find itself in a £600m City property development with British Land.

Higgs said that the connections are co-incidental and that he has a '100% clear conscience'.

Separately, New Labour-ite BBC chairman Gavyn Davies is at the centre of a controversy after investing in UKprocure, an internet company thought likely to make millions from the expansion of the National Health Service.