Michael Howard has slapped down CBI chief Digby Jones after being criticised for failing to include a trade and industry spokesman in his top team.

The Tory leader said Oliver Letwin would speak on trade matters around the Shadow Cabinet table. "If you're interested in titles and what things are called, I'm not your man," he said.

Sir John Egan, president of the CBI, signalled that business is looking again to the Tories, claiming Howard "could make a better fist of it" than Iain Duncan Smith.