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Malcolm Walker, chief executive, Iceland Foods

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7:57 am, February 5, 2010
Small firms lobby group are 'pillocks', says Iceland Foods boss

Iceland Foods chief executive Malcolm Walker has called the Knutsford-based Forum of Private Business (FPB) "pillocks" in an extraordinary public spat.

Walker was quoted in the Daily Telegraph yesterday as criticising a new code of conduct to protect farmers and small suppliers.

The supermarket boss described it as "a complete waste of time" and said plans for a supermarket ombudsman were "madness". He said testy negotiations between supermarkets and suppliers were "a fact of life".

FPB chief executive Phil Orford said he found Walker's comments "extremely disappointing".

and reflected the unreasonable way supermarkets treat their suppliers.

Today the newspaper quoted Walker, speaking from his holiday in Barbados, as saying: "The FPB are pillocks."

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