Failed politicians do not always make bad businessmen.

Sir Christopher Buchan Bland, who retires today as chairman of BT, stumbled into a career in media and communications after a short and unexpected stint as a Conservative councillor. The story goes that Bland was a Greater London Council candidate for Lewisham, convinced that, as a Tory, he had no fear of winning the inner-city seat. A Conservative landslide in 1967 saw him elected. (It was the only time the borough has gone Tory and, as Bland has since told it, it was such a shock victory that he was minded to ask for a recount.) But his time at the GLC put him in touch with Christopher Chataway, who eventually elevated him to his first post in the communications industry: deputy chairman of the Independent Television Authority. (It prompted him to go out and buy a TV).

In the years since, Sir Christopher has become one of the most outspoken, not to mention loudest, figures in British media. Someone once said that Bland does not laugh, he brays. He has a famous temper: he is still remembered for emptying the dustbin all over the desk of the communications director at LWT when he discovered that the man had gone home early on the Friday afternoon that Granada raised its bid.I And, over the years, people who have worked for him and have not had the stomach for an argument with a man who is overbearingly self-confident and intimidatingly impatient have felt bullied by Bland.

He has also, time and again, shown leadership in high office in British business. He sold off LWT for a fortune and, as well as overseeing the turnaround at BT, he also rewarded its shareholders. During his chairmanship, the BBC secured the highly lucrative licence fee agreement that made possible the Corporation’s expansion beyond broadcasting and into digital media. He has used his influence for the public good, whether as the chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company or travelling to Iraq to support BT’s staff in uniform.

Sir Christopher’s success has been rooted in understanding what it is to be an effective chairman. He has commanded the loyalty of his chief executives, because he has been unswervingly on-message in public, has challenged strategy in private, has set clear priorities and, time and again, has delivered his board. The office of the chairman is often seen as either a nuisance or an irrelevance. Sir Christopher has shown that the chairman can and should be pivotal.

james.harding@thetimes.co.uk

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