Peter is the rebel with a cause

"It would be better to use a rapier than a hammer, beating people over the head all the time.

"The Tote is trying to hold the reasonable middle ground between the BHB and the bookmakers. We don't want to see a damaging war in which the punter, the lifeblood of our business, suffers.

"Punters are the people who tend to get forgotten in these wrangles. They are our customers, and the bookmakers, however much they protest, need them.

"If, come the deadline, there are no pictures in the betting shops because of this disagreement, then who suffers most - the punter again. It will be short-term thinking by the BHB and bookmakers." Jones has also hit back at the Racing Post, which criticised his company's refusal to pay the BHB price. "It was wide of the mark and unfair," he said.

Moreover, Jones argues, his record since he became chairman five years ago stands close scrutiny.

The Tote now has a record 370 betting shops which will shortly increase to around 400. Turnover - and therefore its contribution to racing - has more than doubled since he has been chairman and new bets, like the TV-based Scoop6 and Exacta, have caught the public imagination.

He also refutes criticism from the "old buffer" character of Colonel Pinstripe, who regularly lambasts Jones and the Tote in his abrasive column.

Last week he wrote: "The Tote have betrayed us all by siding with the bookmakers."

Jones knows who he is, and whose side he is on. "He is Peter Oborne, a political commentator, who appears on The Week At Westminster and other political programmes," Jones said.

"He has connections in racing's hierarchy and, by and large, he peddles the BHB line. Thankfully, I don't take all this personally, but my main concern is for the people who work for the Tote.

"It is hurtful and worrying for them to hear suggestions that the Tote won't be in business from 1 May, which were made in one article.

"It does worry people in our betting shops, particularly in areas of the country where there is high unemployment and where our staff are the prime breadwinners."

Now Jones is calling for unity in the industry - a call echoed earlier this week by Sports Minister Richard Caborn and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.

"It is fascinating that this has clearly been picked up by the ministers, saying how distasteful they found it - that racing is always at loggerheads and that personal statements are made, and that there was so much unproductive nonsense produced in many respects in the Press," Jones said.

"The fact of the matter is that there has got to be a settlement at some stage or other - there is no getting away from that."