Tory Chairman in Porn Star Investment Claim

Updated: 14:04, Monday October 02, 2006

A top Tory has denied doing anything wrong over reported business links with a company that invested heavily in porn films.

Party chairman Francis Maude was a non-executive director of investment firm Jubilee which is said to have backed a US porn star's business.
Jill Kelly Productions Holdings is said to sell a range of DVDs with titles such as Big Breasted Beauties and Fistful Of Musketeers.

Mr Maude, 53, is a prominent figure in Conservative leader David Cameron's bid to correct the party's gender imbalance by recruiting more women.

The father-of-five has declared his role with Jubilee, which earns him £15,000 a year, in the Commons Register of Members' Interests, according to the Daily Mirror.

The group apparently increased its stake in Jill Kelly's firm from 5.6% in 2003, worth around £2.8m, to some 21% last year.

However, because the US company was by then in trouble the stake was valued at less than £100,000.
Jubilee's portfolio summary reportedly categorises the holding as "motion pictures and services".

Tory sources said Mr Maude, MP for Horsham in West Sussex, denied any wrongdoing.
A Party spokesman said: "Jubilee has been involved in a wide range of start-up businesses. This was only one of them.

"The board was assured that everything they did was inside the law."



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