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Brown's grandees

• Robert Peston
• 27 Jun 07, 11:28 AM

Gordon Brown is creating a special council of business leaders to advise him directly as prime minister.

It will meet two or three times a year and will advice Brown on whether government policy is helping or damaging Britain鈥檚 competitiveness.

The members will also be available to Brown to give him advice as and when he needs it.

Brown鈥檚 business council members include:

Damon Buffini, managing partner of Permira
Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer
Tony Heywood, chief executive of BP
Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco
Arun Sarin, chief executive of Vodafone
Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC
Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls-Royce
Mervyn Davies, chairman of Standard Chartered
J-P Garnier, chief executive of Glaxo Smith Kline

A senior member of the government told me that the initiative was part of bold plans by Brown to redefine the government鈥檚 relationship with business.

Other parts of those plans may include a slimming-down of the Department of Trade and Industry to focus much more on promoting trade, deregulation and the competitiveness of British companies.

Separately a new department focussed on skills and innovation is expected to be created. It would bring together the science and innovation bits of the DTI, and the training and skills parts of assorted departments.

For me, the most striking member of the business council is Damon Buffini, who runs the UK鈥檚 leading private equity firm. It rather implies that the current review of the private-equity industry by the Treasury will NOT increase taxes significantly for the private-equity superstars or in general change the treatment of private equity in a way likely to be perceived by private equity as damaging.

Why would Brown appoint Buffini if he thought there was a risk of Buffini storming off the council in a huff within months?

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