Mulholland to invite Tuppen to speak to MPs...

MP Greg Mulholland has given the green light to to a call from Enterprise Inns boss Ted Tuppen to address the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group.

Last week The Publican ​reported how Tuppen said he was keen to speak to the group, which is chaired by Mulholland.

It appeared to signal a thawing of relations between the two who have been involved in various spats over the past year or so.

But while Mulholland is keen for Tuppen to speak he had harsh words for the company and bonuses recently paid to executives.

He said: "The Save the Pub Group is carefully monitoring progress on reform of the pubco model of the tie and we remain very concerned that some companies and Enterprise Inns notably are simply not making the kind of changes they need to. So yes, we would be delighted to question Enterprise Inns about this at some stage.

"I am sure that members of the group would also welcome the opportunity to question Enterprise about the obscene pay-outs to Mr Tuppen and other senior staff at a time when they are closing community pubs up and down the country and about their health and safety policies following the tragic death of Enterprise licensee Mr Paul Lee."

And he added that he was not sure if Tuppen was the right man to represent the company.

"The Save the Pub Group will indeed be inviting Enterprise Inns to tell us if they are making any substantive progress in line with the Business and Enterprise Select Committee recommendations and the government timetable for reform, but Enterprise Inns themselves may want to consider if Ted Tuppen is really the right person to send or if he will put his foot in it yet again with damaging outbursts any time someone doesn't agree with him".

Before Christmas the MP tabled a Parliamentary motion condemning rises received by Enterprises bosses - which included a 51 per cent increase in earnings for Tuppen to £1.2m.