4 MAY 1991, Page 23

Out to lunch

NOW we know what the Department of Trade and Industry is for. Peter Lilley, the man in the revolving chair, had been wondering. It is for getting between a stockbroker and his lunch. While Mr Lilley was in Birmingham,. pledging himself to competition, innovation and deregulation, his officials in London were preparing to stamp these qualities down. They are taking lawyers' advice about the lunch meetings and visits (your place or mine?) by which brokers get to know companies. Tut, says the DTI – supposing they find something out? That would never do. How about a code, which would keep the two apart, except on occasions of public announcements? So the DTI lumbers on- ward toward its ideal, a stock market where all would trade in conditions of equal and total ignorance. This would have all the characteristics of a roulette wheel, and be as much use. It does not cross official minds that they are planning for more regulation, to restrain brokers who show signs of competition or innovation. It should, though, cross Mr Lilley's mind, for he was a broker and luncher himself in his day — as Greenwell's oil analyst. He should abide by his pledge, curb his fussy officials, and sound the gong for lunch.