MPs laugh about 'Comrade Digby'

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The appointment of the outspoken former CBI leader, Sir Digby Jones, as a government minister has provoked laughter among MPs in the Commons.

He has refused to join the Labour Party but trade minister Pat McFadden joked that he was now called "Comrade Digby".

As he is not an MP, Sir Digby will become a peer to enable him to work as a minister in the business and enterprise department.

But some Labour peers have criticised his appointment by PM Gordon Brown.

In the Commons on Thursday, Conservative Peter Luff wondered how Sir Digby's "traditional powers of tact and diplomacy" would be employed in the new department.

'Red Flag'

To laughter, Mr McFadden replied: "Comrade Digby, as we call him in the department" would be a very vocal and effective voice in the government.

Later Trade Secretary John Hutton also joked with MPs that he had heard "Comrade Digby singing the words of the Red Flag this morning as I passed his office, and he had perfect pitch as well".

But Labour peers have not been so jovial about the appointment. At a regular meeting of Labour peers on Wednesday night there was "a lot of disquiet" expressed about Sir Digby's appointment, BBC Newsnight political editor Michael Crick said.

Lord Tomlinson was particularly concerned about Sir Digby reportedly wanting a more competitive corporation tax system - seen as a criticism of Mr Brown's policy.

Sir Digby once called the unions "increasingly irrelevant", but when he was appointed by Mr Brown he said, despite past criticism of the government, it would be wrong to pass up the opportunity to help put business at the heart of a new administration.