IoD chief Walker to lock horns with Fox on trade department board

One of Britain’s most prominent business figures is to join the board of the new International Trade ministry weeks after publicly ridiculing remarks by Liam Fox, its Secretary of State, about the export performance of British business.

Sky News has learnt that Simon Walker, who heads the Institute of Directors (IoD), has been approached about becoming a non-executive director of the Department for International Trade (DIT), one of the new Whitehall departments established by Theresa May, the Prime Minister.

Mr Walker is expected to agree to the role in the coming weeks, although he could not be reached on Monday to confirm the approach.

Whitehall sources indicated that Mr Walker's appointment to the DIT board was not yet a done deal.

The IoD director-general, who is due to step down next year, used his speech to his organisation's annual conference last month to pour scorn on Mr Fox's comments that British business executives were more focused on playing golf on Friday afternoons than building the country's export base.

"We've got to change the culture in our country," Mr Fox said.

"People have got to stop thinking about exporting as an opportunity and start thinking about it as a duty - companies who could be contributing to our national prosperity but choose not to because it might be too difficult or too time-consuming or because they can't play golf on a Friday afternoon."

The International Trade Secretary's remarks drew a furious response from the business community, with some figures questioning his future in a role partly dependent upon forging closer ties with the private sector.

Mr Fox is one of a trio of pro-Brexit ministers put in charge of the DIT, the Department for Exiting the European Union, which is headed by David Davis, and the Foreign Office, led by Boris Johnson.

The DIT has absorbed the operations and responsibilities of UK Trade and Investment, the export promotion agency which had previously operated as a semi-autonomous body in Whitehall.

Mr Walker is said by friends to be keen to contribute to the UK's post-Brexit economy after he steps down as the IoD chief, where he has won plaudits for turning around the membership group's financial performance and making prominent interventions on issues such as corporate governance and executive pay.

If he does join the DIT's board, it will make Mr Walker the latest in a growing line of leading business figures to become directors of Whitehall departments.

The Conservative-led coalition appointed a string of corporate bosses, including the Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) chairman John Allan and Lord Browne, the former BP chief executive, to Whitehall boards in an effort to professionalise the administration of government during a period of public spending cuts.

The experiment has had mixed results, with some non-executives hinting that their effectiveness can be stymied by ministers who are unwilling to engage properly.

A spokesman for the DIT said:

"Government non-executives provide advice and bring an external perspective to departments by sitting on departmental boards.

"In our search, we considered many attributes including experience in trade policy, proven leadership in large and complex organisations, leading major projects, an understanding of public sector challenges and a proven ability to contribute and inspire confidence with a range of stakeholders.

"The recruitment process is ongoing so we are not in a position to confirm any non-executive appointments at this time."