Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is to conduct a public consultation over genetically modified organisms, has cut her business links with the GMO industry.
Mrs Spelman (née Cormack) was, with her husband Mark Spelman, a director at food and biotechnology lobbyists, Spelman, Cormack and Associates. The couple set it up in 1989.
In May of last year, she transferred her shares in the company to her husband and resigned her directorship.
Last month, her husband applied to Companies House to formally wind down the firm.
Mrs Spelman had earlier been forced to deny any suggestions of a conflict of interest when it emerged her husband worked for Accenture, the company behind the Rural Payments Agency’s £350 million IT system.
Mrs Spelman gave Defra permanent secretary Helen Ghosh full disclosure of all her business interests and of any potential conflict of interest in line with the ministerial code of conduct, she told Farmers’ Weekly.
