Business guru Lord Digby Jones is to become a TV troubleshooter, hosting a new series looking at the state of the British manufacturing industry.
The former director-general of the CBI, who is formally known as Lord Jones, will front BBC2 series Digby Jones’ New Industrial Revolution in which he aims to give a helping hand to businesses.
Over the course of three hour-long programmes, the former trade minister will examine a trio of firms and apply his own expertise to improve their fortunes but also bear in mind the needs of the people behind the company.
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The BBC said his aim is to “not only improve each company’s fortunes but over the course of the series try to craft a new blueprint for British manufacturing success.”
Lord Jones of Birmingham, who is from Alvechurch, in Worcestershire and attended Bromsgrove School, said: “It is vital that a wider audience understands how business ticks, especially smaller businesses where from will come so much of the growth and employment in our economy over the next few years.
“I look forward to drilling down into businesses, asking the awkward questions, thinking the unthinkable and constructively challenging the status quo.
“I want to get the audience thinking and asking questions as well, and hopefully the younger members of local communities will also find something in the programmes for them to see why developing skills is so important. Bring it on.”
He follows in the footsteps of the late John Harvey-Jones – star of shows such as Troubleshooter and Back To The Floor .
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BBC commissioning executive Tom Edwards said: “There are only a tiny handful of people with the expertise, personality and profile that could attempt a challenge like this. I’m delighted Lord Jones has agreed to take it on for us, at the BBC.”
Lord Jones spent 20 years with Edge & Ellison, a Birmingham-based firm of lawyers, where he worked his way up from Articled Clerk to Senior Partner.
In 2000 he joined the CBI and spent more than six years as director general, before being appointed Minister of State for 海角视频 Trade & Investment and becoming a life peer taking the title, Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham.