Last week, Conservative MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, Jesse Norman accepted a position at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

NIESR is Britain's longest established independent economics research organisation. Mr Norman will sit on the body's 15-member Council of Management. Mr Norman took to Twitter to express his pleasure at joining the Council and later told the Gazette: "I was delighted they approached me. NIESR does a lot of good research, it's a sleeping giant of an organisation."

The appointment is intriguing as last November Mr Norman clashed with the organisation's Director, Jonathan Portes, at his appearance in front of the Treasury Committee.

Mr Norman asked Mr Portes: "Are you operating as a kind of rogue economist?", and said he was "extraordinarily unwilling to give any credit or credibility" to the Government. Mr Portes responded by rejecting "the insinuation that I have some political motives for making economic statements".

Mr Norman said: "I've always made clear my respect for Jonathan. The issue of political neutrality has nothing to do with economics, it's a philosophical question."

Last month Mr Norman was appointed to the new Conservative policy board.

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