Hostilities erupt between Forum of Private Business and Sainsbury's

A row has erupted between the Forum of Private Business (FPB) and Sainsbury's over FPB comments made in the press about the supermarket's move to alter contract terms with suppliers.

Comments by FPB chief executive, Nick Goulding, that Sainsbury's had 'ripped up contracts with suppliers' sparked a complaint letter addressed to Goulding from Sainsbury's group chief executive Justin King.

In the letter, dated April 21, King claims that Goulding's comments are both 'provocative and untrue'. King said that FPB had not 'clashed' with Sainsbury's earlier this year over contract terms and that Sainsbury's 'entirely refutes your provocative allegation that we have 'ripped up contracts with suppliers' - we have done no such thing.'

The FPB has attempted to justify its claims by publishing correspondence between the grocer and its suppliers. It argues that the correspondence shows an attempt by Sainsbury's to impose a unilateral variation to the supply contracts.

Goulding said: 'We have a simple message to Mr King: your bully-boy tactics will not work on us.'