A FRESH wave of strikes is due to bring much of Britain’s railways to a standstill next month — and the transport boss to blame is now being investigated for an alleged conflict of interest.

Guards on Southern, Northern, Merseyrail, Greater Anglia and South Western Railway will walk out on November 8 over driver-only trains.

Southern, South Western and Greater Anglia will then take a second day of action on November 9.

Rail unions have accused the government of directing operating companies to convert routes to driver-only operation as a money-saving exercise.

They argue the change will compromise safety, disabled access and jobs. Rail privateers insist that driver-only trains are safe.

Last year, the Department for Transport’s (DfT) rail passenger services director Peter Wilkinson was forced to apologise after he said there would be “punch-ups” with workers.

He told a meeting organised by a Tory MP that guards and drivers who resisted changes to working practices should “get the hell out of my industry,” adding: “We have got to break them.”

Now it has been revealed that Mr Wilkinson is being investigated by an official watchdog over an alleged conflict of interest.

The rail boss took up his current job in 2014, having already sucked over £650,000 out of DfT budgets through his private consultancy firm.

But his company, First Class Partnerships, also had links to two other firms which were awarded franchises by the DfT while he was working there as a consultant.

One of these companies was Southern’s owner Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) — the first company to impose driver-only operation during the current dispute.

The meeting at which Mr Wilkinson delivered his “punch ups” outburst took place in Croydon, a key commuter hub on the Southern network.

In a letter to shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald, a copy of which has been seen by the Star, the National Audit Office (NAO) confirmed it was investigating the alleged conflict of interest.

The NAO is due to publish an extensive report on the contracting arrangements for GTR next month.

Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “The NAO is right to investigate Wilkinson’s appointments and its findings expose the revolving door between the corporate privateers and Tory cronyism.

“If [Transport Secretary Chris] Grayling had any honour he would resign before the full report indicts his disastrous stewardship of the DfT even further. But sadly I predict he won’t, as Tory arrogance knows no end.”

The correspondence also shows that Mr Wilkinson’s company also employed six other staff who were given temporary jobs at the DfT.

A memo attached to the NAO letter states that the department thinks Mr Wilkinson was not involved in “the identification or selection of candidates” for these roles.

The office said the DfT “identified and managed potential conflicts of interest between Mr Wilkinson’s roles” on Whitehall and at his private consultancy.

When approached by the Star yesterday, both the NAO and the DfT declined to comment further.

Rail union RMT remains at loggerheads with bosses on Southern, and yesterday blasted a compromise deal hammered out between management and drivers’ union Aslef.

The deal says all trains would run with a “safety-trained” on-board supervisor apart from in “exceptional circumstances.” Sources close to Aslef say such conditions would be similar to those allowed before the company sought to expand driver-only trains.

Announcing the strikes, RMT general secretary Mick Cash accused “the dead hand of the minority Tory government” of “interfering in these disputes to block negotiated settlements.”