Tory treasurer under fire for share sell-off
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The Liberal Democrats have called for Tory party treasurer Michael Spencer to be sacked after he came under fire for selling shares in his company ahead of a profit warning.
According to reports, Spencer, who founded broking firm ICAP in 1986, sold 10.3m shares on January 8 at 440p a share, netting him £45m.
Last week, the company issued a warning to shareholders that profits were set to fall, causing ICAP shares to fall to 297p. Had Spencer sold after the warning he would have realised just £30m.
He had defended his actions, saying “strict procedures” on share sales were followed.
The FSA has refused to comment on whether Spencer will be investigated.
Readers' comments (3)
Dan W | 8 Feb 2010 2:43 pm
This should serve as a reminder to those who have been bashing Labour over the head for the past few years....the Tories would have fared no better and you get all of this self interest and profiteering at others' exense thrown in for free!
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john - sacked ? lucky it he doesn't face something | 8 Feb 2010 3:54 pm
Strict procedure followed ? Sadly this is a little naive as the MPs can also argue that they followed procedure regarding expenses. In his position he should know better. But i hope they draw a line under it. We have seen too much bloodletting recently
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Anonymous | 8 Feb 2010 4:29 pm
John - draw a line under it because there has been too much bloodletting recently?! What the... are you seriously saying that just because there has been so much bad behaviour we should just let it pass? Grow a spine. He should be investigated and he should have known better and he certainly shouldn't be the Treasurer for one of this country's main political parties.
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