Lord Stokes open up to the media

On the eve of the London Motor Show Lord Stokes tells the media: "We are still a bloody good country with some bloody good engineers'... I do not understand what has become an almost hypnotic death wish in this country. Speculation, not only about our company but many others equally important to the national economy, causes unrest and demoralisation at work as well as doing untold damage by eroding confidence in British products overseas.

"It must make our overseas competitors jump with joy... There has been too much talk of conflict between Government, industry and trades unions. I believe that we are all on the same side and the sooner everybody realises this the better... We have to face up to at least two years during which car markets will remain roughly at their present modest level.

"Thereafter we believe demand will start to climb again. We are also committed next year to our biggest export programme ever."