It's a tough life for Two Dinners Digby

YOU have to feel sorry for Digby Jones, the largerthan-life director-general of the Confederation of British Industry.

The man whose job it is to evangelise for British business has had to make sacrifices of his own as boss of the bosses' organisation.

In his four years at the CBI, he has eaten more than 1,000 dinners on the rubber chicken circuit - occasionally two in an evening on behalf of the cause.

Jones, 48, has been on a permanent (and unsuccessful) diet for years. And recently he had an operation on a painful double hernia caused, he claims, by a sharp turn in the swimming pool.

Just four days after the operation he was back on the podium with a brilliant performance in front of an audience of people not known for their love of the CBI - trade unionists. Jones did not attempt to defend corporate greed, but in blunt and plain language gave the TUC delegates a simple lecture on the facts of business life.

He was not booed, as was predicted by most observers, and left the stage to sustained applause. They had appreciated his candour. Now if you can win over tough old trade unionists, it's child's play to woo your own.

No surprise then that his large CBI fan club went to his president, Sir John Egan, and begged him to keep Jones on when his five-year contract ends next year. 'It was very flattering and I accepted,' he says. 'I love the job, but I insisted that I should only stay on another two years. I would hate to outstay my welcome and become boring.'

There is little danger of that. Businessmen sense he is one of their own - rather than, say, the more austere and intellectual Adair Turner or Sir John Banham, previous occupants of the hot seat.

But Jones, the son of a grocer, has shown his academic mettle. He won a scholarship to Bromsgrove School in Worcestershire. After a degree from University College, London, he trained to be a lawyer and spent 20 years at Edge & Ellison in Birmingham.

Then it was off to accountancy KPMG, where he specialised in dealing direct with clients as vicepresident of corporate finance. After his return from a business trip to Copenhagen, he received a call from headhunters to join the CBI. He has never looked back.

For a man who has always loved being at the centre of the action, it was the perfect job. 'I always wanted to make a difference and I can in this job,' he says. 'It's also a job I love to do.'

Jones enjoys the travelling. He has been to 40 countries in his time at the CBI and the Government believes he has done a good job selling British business overseas.

He is widely respected in Whitehall and consulted frequently by the Chancellor - Jones has a good relationship with Gordon Brown, despite a recent scathing attack on the Government for increasing the tax burden.

Perhaps more importantly, he has the ear of Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt, who is locked in a struggle with the Treasury over how best to support British business.

Jones has an acute sense of what the public can take and when it is right to move with the times. A classic case is his outspoken attack on corporate greed, or 'rewards for failure' as he prefers to describe it.

'This is an incredibly important time for the reputation of British business,' he says. 'Mrs Thatcher was very quick to see that there was a change in the public's mood to strikers.

'Similarly, we have to be aware that unless we are constantly on the lookout, laws could be forced on to us because of the activities of a very few businesses.

'For example, when you have to make workers redundant for what may be a legitimate reason, it is insensitive to say the least for board members to vote themselves a pay increase. No matter what people may say about that, it is insensitive and wrong.

'We have taken guidance from members and, based on their experiences, have suggested guidelines.

'At the heart of these is transparency and honesty. There should be one-year contracts and if a director has to be paid off, his year's money should be paid in monthly instalments. When you hire someone with a joining-on fee, you should call it that rather than disguise it as a bonus.'

Jones is not short of opinions. In a reference to Financial Mail's campaign on behalf of workers hit by company pension scheme windups, he says he was sickened by the case of a Welsh steelworker denied a pension after 39 years of hard work. 'If that had been my father, I would be manning the barricades,' he says with passion.

'We've got to change the legislation on pensions to allow companies to continue having surpluses in their pension schemes, rather than forcing them to take it out in the good times.'

As one would expect from the boss of the CBI, Jones is passionate about industry and making UK plc more competitive. He is infuriated by the Government's weakness in the face of 'cheating' by Continental rivals over the issue of public procurement: 'When did we last win a French government contract? There are rules, but we are the only ones obeying them.

'I would like to see Tony Blair putting our case more strongly in Brussels and making sure that other countries obey the rules.'

But Jones really lets rip when it comes to tax. His research showing that Britain is becoming more highly taxed deeply offended the Treasury.

'They may quibble, but the truth is out there,' he says. 'Businesses are paying more in tax and they don't like it. If the Chancellor wants to raise taxes, he'd better not come to businesses. We've had enough.'

So what can business do about it? 'Well, Britain is still a good place to do business, but there comes a point where companies will look elsewhere,' he says.

'That is one thing I never want to see happen.'