MAUDLING GOES!

REGINALD MAUDLING, the deputy prime Secretary, resigned yesterday. In making the a Heath told parliament that Scotland Yard had gate the financial crash of Yorkshire architec Heath said that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Norman Skelhorn, had requested the Metropolitan Police to conduct an investigation and report back to him.

Commander James Crane, head of the Yard's fraud squad, will be in charge of the inquiry.

The new Home Secretary will be Robert Carr, the man who guided the Industrial Relations Act through parliament. Before the last General Election Carr was a director of Securicor Limited, Britain's largest private police force.

Maudling's resignation has been inevitable since revelations in the Wakefield bankruptcy court about the business affairs of architect Poulson.

The two onen hearings of the court revealed that Poulson had paid more than £330,000 in fees to various MPs, civil servants and other consultants.

Maudling was chairman of one of Poulson's overseas subsidiaries and a director of several others. At one time his whole family, including two teenage sons, held shares in Poulson's companies.

In a letter from Maudling which Heath read to the Commons, the ex-Home Secretary said: 'I took no remuneration' for the Chairmanship of the export company. 'He Poulson had made a covenant in favour of charitable appeal which had my support. I do not regard this as a matter either for criticism or for investigaIns Is a reterence to TL:the covenant which is alleged to have paid ALEX MITCHELL £22,000 to the Adeline Genee theatre trust, which built a theatre in East Grinstead.

The Maudlings launched the trust at a champagne party at No 11 Downing Street in 1963 when Maudling was Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Maudling's letter went on: 'However, there are matters not relating to me that do require investigation and I entirely agree that this should be carried out in the normal way on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

'We agreed that it would not be appropriate for me • continue to hold this office while the investigations are being pursued in view of the fact that my name has been mentioned at the hearing.' Heath hoped that Maudlina wnuld ahle 'to 11g UC avIc LU resume his position in the public life of this country' He also announced that two senior civil servants named in the Poulson case had been suspended. They are George Pottinger, permanent secretary in the Scottish Office, and Mr E. G. Braithwaite, secretary of the South West Metropolitan Hospital Board.

In evidence so far it has been revealed that Pottinger received €21,000 from Poulson. When asked why he paid Pottinger such large sums, Poulson said it was because 'he was a friend'.

Fleet Street has been carefully keeping Maudling episode as quiet as possible over the past few weeks.

Only yesterday, the political editor of The mmes, Javia vood, wrule in a front-page story:

'No minister, no poliminister and Home nouncement Edward reen asked to investiJohn Poulson.

tician at Westminster, believes for a moment that Mr Maudling has anything to answer for.

'He may have been unfortunate in his business associates, but he broke no rules for MPs and public men when he agreed reluctantly to become chairman of International Technical and Constructional Services, a company doing business wholly overseas Press Association, the main news agency, rushed out an adulatory biography of the No 2 Tory headed: 'Loyal Reggie, the easy-going : whizz-kid.' The article said: The cheerful, easy-going manner of Mr Reginald Maudling camouflages a strong determination backed by an extraordinary brain.' This gushing statement is anucut lo reconcue witn in diAnalt t~ nonnanile writh the 'New Statesman' article last week that of nine companies which Maudling became a director during 1964 and 1970, five have ended in bankruptcy.

The resignation of the deputy prime minister reveals the desperate state of the Tory leadership. This government is kept in office solely • by the craven collaboration of the labour and trade union leaders.

It is bitterly ironic that having announced Maudling's exit, Heath went round to his No 10 Downing Street residence to greet the TUC leaders to commence talks about wage restraint.

The TUC leaders have no mandate for such talks with these pcople. They should break off all talks with this bankrupt Ilory government and force a General Election. Tory No. 2 (above) hands over to exSecuricor director Robert Carr (below) search for gold YESTER Common ministers Hopeless substitute DAY'S meeting Market finance in London 'solved' nothing.

All efforts to find a substitute for Bretton Woods are foundering on the rock of American refusal either to revalue the price of gold upwards or to make the dollar convertible.

Tory Chancellor Anthony Barber said after the one-and-ahalf day meeting which ended yesterday that the ministers were going away to work out details for an overhaul of the world monetary system.

No further meetings planned until the end September.

Than then min I nen the ministers woula confer again in Luxembourg, coinciding with meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the Commonwealth finance ministers in London.

In other words there is complete stalemate. The only eitect of this decision is to further postpone action until the end of the summer.

For the next two months ministerial minds will be bent to finding a 'neutral international reserve' to substitute for the pound and the dollar.

The search is hopeless. Value cannot be restored to the paper currencies of the world without first putting an end to the system of trade which they serve.

But capitalism will not sign its own death warrant. Trade war is the only alternative, and it is this prospect which the breakdown of yesterday's talks brings one step nearer.

Nixon is determined not to raise the price of gold, thereby calming world fears that the dollar is seriously overvalued— a belief likely to gain credence when the US balance-of-payments deficit is disclosed later this month.

Meanwhile Europe is saturated with increasingly worthless paper dollars. Last week alone, central banks were forced to buy up $3,000m to prevent them falling below their support rate.

However pious the hopes of the finance ministers, this is a situation which cannot allowed to continue_for longcertainly not until September without some action being taken to stem the dollar deluge.

New biography will be used Jul 19, 1972