Committee will seek MI5 details (CORRECTED)

CORRECTION (PUBLISHED 17 JULY 1992) APPENDED TO THIS ARTICLE

THE NEW Home Affairs Select Committee is to write to Stella Hollis, the director of MI5, asking her to give evidence about the workings of the service.

John Major has already signalled that he is looking at how to make the secret services more accountable. But the committee's plan could be viewed as an attempt to pre-empt a decision by the Government.

The move, which will not be publicly announced, emerged after more than two hours of internal wrangling over the committee's chairmanship, after four Labour MPs declined to line up behind Sir Ivan Lawrence, the chairman recommended by Tory and Labour whips.

Gerry Bermingham, the sole Labour member prepared to back him, protested to the Tory chief whip, Sir Richard Ryder, over the resultant 5-5 stalemate. It was resolved only when the four Labour rebels - who backed John Greenway - were warned that Gerald Kaufman, Labour's outgoing foreign affairs spokesman, would not get the chairmanship of the national heritage committee.

The election of chairman for the Transport Select Committee was a smoother affair. Robert Adley, the Tory train enthusiast and an opponent of privatisation, was voted in, opening the way for a rocky spell for the Government's plans for British Rail.

The choice should help mollify Labour MPs angered by the trading of control of the committee for that of trade and industry. Mr Adley has been a robust critic of the Government's attitude towards BR.

The chairmanship of Trade and Industry went to Labour's Richard Caborn, the unanimous choice after an unsuccessful attempt by Sir Anthony Grant, the Conservative MP for Cambridgeshire South West, to delay the election until after the summer recess. He too was angered at the whips' decision to relinquish control to Labour.

As Marion Roe, the former environment minister, was elected chairman of the Health Select Committee, her predecessor, Nicholas Winterton, had a 'full and frank exchange of views' with the Prime Minister over the manner of his exclusion from the committee.

During the 40-minute discussion, Mr Winterton reiterated his complaint that he was ousted from the committee at the behest of party whips under a 'totally spurious and fictitious' rule barring service on committees for more than 12 years.

CORRECTION

In yesterday's report 'Committee will seek MI5 details', the name of the head of the service should have read Stella Rimington, not Stella Hollis. Richard Ryder, the Tory chief whip, was wrongly described as Sir Richard Ryder. We apologise for any embarrassment.

(Photograph omitted)