London - Britain's embattled Paymaster General, Mr Geoffrey Robinson, escaped parliamentary censure yesterday in connection with his private business interests.
After a six-month inquiry by the House of Commons standards and privileges committee, Mr Robinson was found to have acted improperly. But the main charge that he accepted and failed to declare a £200,000 payment as chairman of Hollis Industries, owned by the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell, was not upheld.
And although he was found not to have registered another paid company directorship, the committee concluded in its report that his conduct "does not reach the threshold which would justify the imposition of any penalty."
Mr Robinson, a multi-millionaire entrepreneur turned politician who became chairman of the car manufacturer Jaguar, aged 33, has been one of the most criticised of Prime Minister Tony Blair's ministers. He came under intense pressure to resign at the end of last year after a series of press disclosures about his financial affairs, including a £12 million tax-free offshore trust in Guernsey.