LORD Carter, the Government's chief whip in the House of Lords and agricultural advisor to Tony Blair, has denied that pigs on an Everleigh farm owned by a company in which he was a director until 1997, were cruelly treated and kept in illegal conditions.

Lord Carter became a director in 1976 of WE and DT Cave, which ran Lower House Farm at Everleigh where 35,000 pigs were kept.

He became a peer in 1987 and was agriculture spokesman for the Labour opposition.

Former staff at the farm have claimed that many of the pigs were kept in inhumane conditions but were moved whenever the farm was notified that an inspection was due.

Both the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Wiltshire Trading Standards have admitted that prior notice was given of inspections at the Everleigh farm.

Steve Clover, the head of Wiltshire Trading Standards, said new inquiries based on video evidence and sworn statements from former employees would now be examined.

Mr Clover said: "We are now re-examining the cases. The visits last summer were programmed visits so the farm knew we were coming."

A spokesman for DEFRA confirmed animal health inspection visits by the State Veterinary Service were booked in advance.

Trading standards officers are now examining affidavits from former employees who allege the outlawed stall-and-tether system where sows were kept in in confined pens where they were unable to turn, were in use until shortly before Christmas.

Workers also allege sows were kept in the same stall from one month to the next and many died from suffocation. There have also been allegations that pigs were beaten to death with iron bars.

A DEFRA spokesman said State Veterinary Service inspectors visited the farm twice last year after complaints had been received.

"There were complaints made and we followed them up but on the visits we did not find evidence of infringements," said the spokesman.

In a statement, Lord Carter said: "The animals were not kept in illegal conditions."

Allegations had been made, he said, by disgruntled staff who had lost their jobs when the pig farm closed.

The Cabinet Office issued a statement saying Lord Carter had resigned as director of the farm when he joined the Government in 1997 and had no involvement in its day to day running.