The prime minister Tony Blair played down reports of his intervention in the Longbridge Rover plant crisis, in Birmingham.
He told Radio 2’s Jimmy Young programme that the government would not be involved in a “bale out”. But he said the government was ready to provide support for new models to help secure the plant’s future. He denied yesterday’s reports that he had asked German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to intervene with Rover’s parent BMW after King Hussein’s funeral in Jordan.
The Guardian says Longbridge has been an industrial disaster waiting to happen.
The Daily Telegraph 10/02/99 page 28
The Guardian 10/02/99 page 15 (Analysis), page 21
