Martin blasts Fidelity

Wetherspoons boss tim Martin attacked Fidelity yesterday, accusing it of hypocrisy.

Martin said the investment manager, which owns 2pc of his pub chain, has taken a ‘rigid approach’ to rules limiting company directors’ tenures to nine years.

But he said despite the US giant voting against two ‘experienced’ Wetherspoons directors, Fidelity itself does not follow the ‘nineyear rule’. He said: ‘If major investors do not observe the rules themselves, it cannot be right to vote against directors of investee companies.’

a Fidelity spokesman said Wetherspoon’s statement contained ‘significant misinformation’ and clarified the majority of its board joined in the last nine years.