By Beth Rigby

We’ve heard that the business council will be announced later today, a body of the great and good to advise David Cameron. It will meet four times a year and there will be 20 business leaders from sectors that are “strategically important to the UK”. A list of some members is below — some of the more well known names include Sir James Dyson and Justin King of J Sainsbury.

But will it be little more than a talking shop? (Just think of Gordon Brown’s Business Council for Britain.) My source says the idea is that business will provide high level advice on business and economic matters in the UK, while the PM is also keen on setting up smaller advisory groups as part of his efforts to make sure each minister and department across business are listening and talking to business. Let’s see if it works.

Here’s the list so far: Read more

Congratulations are in order for Chris Huhne. We’ve heard he has provisionally settled the energy department budget, winning him a place on the so-called “star chamber”.

This makes him the first Lib Dem spending department ministers to join the “Public Expenditure Committee”, the cabinet appeals court for the spending review. He attended his first meeting today, sitting alongside other “high achievers” such as Eric “thrifty” Pickles and Caroline Spelman. Six departments in total have now provisionally settled. Read more

Eric Pickles’ has launched another offensive in his long war against excess and frivolity in Whitehall.

Reams of spending data has been published for 2008 showing how his department allegedly lived it up in the pre-Pickles era. Read more