This week's key appointments

Friday, 10 September 2004 12:00 AM

Although all eyes at Westminster have been on the Government reshuffle and the Conservative front bench reshuffle this week, other moves have been taking place.

On Thursday, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham Nigel Jones announced that he is to step down from Parliament at the next general election for health reasons.

Four new peers have also been introduced to the House of Lords. For Labour Lord Young of Norwood Green, the former general secretary of the Communications Workers Union, was introduced on Tuesday, along with the Crossbencher Lord Cameron of Dillington, lately the chair of the Countryside Agency.

On Wednesday, the former chair of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lord Vallance of Tummel was introduced, as a Liberal Democrat peer. Also entering the Lords for the first time that day was Baroness Chapman, the chair of the Leeds United Disabled Organisation.

At the Scottish Parliament, which met for the first time this week in its new Holyrood buildings, five independent MSPs announced the formation of a new party group, called the Independents.

The group, which comprises Margo MacDonald, Dennis Canavan, Campbell Martin, Dr Jean Turner and John Swinburne, will not work together orshare policies, but by organising themselves as a formal group, will be entitled to representation on the Scottish Parliamentary Bureau. This will permit them to be allocated time for debates of their choice.

In Brussels, the former Irish Taoiseach John Bruton has been appointed as the European Union's ambassador to the United Nations, while Bo Vesterdorf has been re-elected as President of the Court of First Instance.

In Whitehall, the Department for Trade and Industry has appointed Paul Myners, the chair of Marks and Spencer, to head a study to examine whether or not the current application of pre-emption rights when new shares are issued hinders companies from raising finance to innovate and grow their businesses.

Adrian Darby has been appointed as the chair of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, and Bruce Mann has been appointed as Head of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat at the Cabinet Office.

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