THE latest president of the CBI, the lobbying group for business, has a reputation as a steely manager, part of the team that transformed his own business from a more parochial, family-run outfit into a tough global giant in little more than a decade.

Is the CBI next? John Sunderland’s eyes narrow. In front of him, a large pile of chocolate bars, thrown together invitingly in a fruit bowl, glint in their shiny wrappers. Being boss of a chocolate company takes, you suspect, great discipline.

So Sunderland, 59, chairman of Cadbury Schweppes, should have no trouble dealing with the lorryload of rubber chicken dinners now coming his way at the CBI. “I’m trying to run with the requests that are made,” he sighs, studying his shirt cuffs as if for signs of tightening.

Lean, trim and a little severe, Sunderland has never been the most clubbable of men. Before becoming chairman, he was chief executive of Cadbury Schweppes for seven years, driving the confectionery group to new heights of profitability, but he was rarely comfortable in the media spotlight.

That makes him an intriguing choice as the CBI’s captain-of-industry frontman. Working closely with the lobby group’s director-general, Digby Jones, and the clutch of senior business figures on its top-level board, he now sets the agenda for how British business responds to the demands of Westminster, Brussels and other interested parties.

A fortnight ago he welcomed Tony Blair to the CBI’s manufacturing dinner. On Tuesday he greets Gordon Brown and Patricia Hewitt at the CBI’s annual conference in Birmingham. How piquant — just at a time when his own business is under political pressure as never before from campaigners who blame the global food firms for Britain's obesity problems. And later this month a government white paper on public health is due.

Will he be pinning back more ears on the issue? “I take every opportunity with every minister I meet if the subject is raised,” he smiles. But delegates hoping for free chocolate all round next week are likely to be disappointed.

In his fourth-floor Cadbury office overlooking London’s Berkeley Square, Sunderland views my attempts at light banter with tolerant amusement. Dapperly dressed in dark-blue suit and crisp white shirt, with a Yeltsinesque halo of grey hair crowning sharp features, he looks like a man who would rather be doing than talking.

That is manifested in his temperate use of words and prolonged pauses — nothing unnecessary added. But as you would expect from an executive who has spent nearly 40 years at Cadbury, once one of Britain’s most progressive employers, he is also an erudite advocate of socially responsible business methods. Sunderland is known inside Cadbury as a thoughtful organiser and meticulous presenter, something that impressed the City on his way up. These are attributes the CBI will want to tap.

But if he comes into the CBI with a mission, beyond the current business priorities of reducing red tape, improving education and pressing for a more efficient transport infrastructure, it is to persuade more people about the benefits of wealth creation and the role of business in changing things for the better.

In short, he’s not lacking in ambition. “In business, we employ the most people, we pay the most taxes. Without those taxes there would be no schools, hospitals or prisons,” he says. “The profits we make go back to people, via institutions, in the form of pensions and savings, and business can be enjoined to be a very powerful force for good.”

He cites the response of business to environmental concerns over the past decade. Once companies get their weight behind issues, they can make a difference.

“I’m not saying we are a purely altruistic force,” he adds, “but we are a real force for change. Look what Business In the Community has achieved — amazing things, and that has not been recognised.”