The British government has started moves to bar executives from failed carmaker MG Rover from running other companies following the publication of a report into the collapse of the business in 2005.

After purchasing Rover from BMW for a nominal £10 in May 2000, the management team, known as the “Phoenix Four”, tried to revive Britain’s last major independent carmaker but then went into insolvency in 2005 with debts of nearly £1.3 billion.

“Based on this report, work has been commissioned to start legal proceedings to seek to declare relevant directors unfit to hold office, and to disqualify them from management of any company in future,” Britain’s business secretary Peter Mandelson said in a statement yesterday.

The government action targets Peter Beale, John Edwards, Nick Stephenson and John Towers – the men popularly known as the “Phoenix Four”. –(Reuters)