These are exciting days for accountants. Rarely have tax issues moved so quickly, been so controversial and won so many headlines. And rarely have business lobby groups, led by the CBI, scored so many direct hits in getting government policy reversed, and at speed, forcing the Treasury into making rapid changes on plans for capital gains tax and non-domicile taxation.

Yet Richard Lambert, the CBI's Director-General, is not resting on his laurels. If his fears are realised, the CBI will be representing fewer businesses because some will have fled overseas in search of more competitive rates of corporation tax.

The CBI recently produced a lengthy, forward-looking report on tax, seeking a commitment from the Government to lowering corporation tax from 28 per cent to 18 per cent over the next eight years. It may seem slightly hopeful to expect any government to agree to such a long-term goal, especially an administration that has changed its taxation plans almost weekly over the past few months, but Mr Lambert believes that business must be able to see a long-term plan, even though it appreciates that the nation's coffers are not strong enough at present to support large cuts in corporation tax.

“We know they can't do anything now, but let's develop a strategy, let's aim for a lower rate where business taxes make sense, where you can pluck the goose without killing it,” he said.

Mr Lambert now has his eye on the Government's consultation over taxing foreign earnings. However, as the CBI takes aim at tax issues, so, too, are the unions. The TUC produced its own long report on business taxation, based on analysis of the accounts of many of the UK's biggest companies, showing that many pay less than the headline rate because of their use of deferred taxation and other legal methods of sheltering income.

Gearing up for the next general election, the Conservatives have promised an immediate cut in business tax to 25 per cent, although they would also cut research and development allowances.

The Tories are also reaching out to business more than they did. After failing to attend the CBI's annual conference in 2006, David Cameron is assiduously touring the business conferences. The Conservatives also have forged a link with Rolls-Royce, to em- bed some of their key policymakers with the manufacturer to help to draft a plan for manufacturing in Britain. Mr Lambert thinks that it is an interesting exercise and that the call from Sir John Rose, Rolls-Royce's chief executive, for more of a strategy for manufacturing deserves attention.

“We all know that industrial policy is for the birds, but here we are in the UK at a point where we are about to make enormous investment in power generation and infrastructure,” Mr Lambert said. “Shouldn't we be using it as an opportunity to think about the manufacturing base of the future, what our comparative advantages are and how we can best use them?”

Britain's preparation for expanding its power generation and infrastructure is ahead of the development of the next generation of nuclear power. The CBI Director-General believes that energy is a critical issue for business as prices soar and Britain's oil reserves dwindle. “My anxiety on power and energy security is that it is enormously important to the economy and business-as-usual means that by 2016-17 we will have power shortages,” he said. “And if we don't get the right policy in place before that, there will be another dash for gas - except that this time it will come from places you don't want to go to on your summer holidays.”

Mr Lambert thinks that the Government has woken up to the urgency of energy policy after the “disgrace” of the 2003 Energy White Paper, but he thinks that Europe is showing nowhere near enough co-ordination and action on the issue. “The European Union has performed poorly ... Russia has succeeded in playing off members of the EU against each other by the way it has operated its pipeline and other energy policies,” he said. “Europe is all over the place on that, so it is a concern.”

Spiralling energy costs have added to business concern over the present economic slowdown, but Mr Lambert is not panicking, believing that the picture outside the City of London is more robust and that the economy is more diverse and resilient than it was in the recession in 1991. “There are signs that consumers are tightening their belts,” he said. “I expect that this year and next will be quite tough, especially for low-income familes.”

Yet he added: “I don't think unemployment is going to go up. And sterling has been overvalued for most of the last 12 years and that has had a really sharp impact on manufacturing.”

The CBI leader believes that labour market flexibility - what the unions see as the increasing casualisation of work - is crucial for a strong, responsive economy. Here, the two sides of industry are fundamentally opposed, although Mr Lambert is not as keen to go head-to-head and rile the unions as his predecessor, Lord Jones of Birmingham. However, Mr Lambert does think that the unions will flex their muscles more as the Government struggles with its popularity and as we get nearer to a general election.

“They are obviously part of the mood of disgruntlement in the land because of public sector pay restraint, which I think is necessary,” he said.

“As an election looms over the horizon and as the Government is on the back foot and increasingly reliant on union funding, those are circumstances where you might expect to hear more from my friend Brendan [Barber, the TUC General Secretary] and one or two others.”

However, Mr Lambert agrees with the unions' view that public sector pay does not contribute to inflation, as the Government argues. He thinks that the 2 per cent cap imposed by Gordon Brown while Chancellor is simply about controlling public spending.

Mr Lambert is seen by many as a thoughtful and analytical leader of the CBI. Perhaps this stems from his years of observing and interpreting business as a journalist on the Financial Times. He was Editor for ten years and during his reign the newspaper launched its US edition and backed Labour in the 1992 general election, which the party lost to John Major.

The CBI's Director-General is sticking to its political neutrality and is not commenting on what shape he thinks the present Prime Minister and the Government are in after Labour's mauling in this month's local elections. However, it is clear that, in the same way that he expects the unions to rachet up their demands of a weakened Government, so will the CBI, especially after its recent wins on tax.

CV

Age: 63

Born: Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire

Education: Studied history at Balliol College, Oxford

Career: Joined the Financial Times after graduating. Edited Lex column in 1970s, becoming financial editor in 1979. In 1982, became New York bureau chief, returning to UK a year later as deputy editor. Editor, 1991-2001, launching US edition

2002: Writes Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration

2003-06: Member of Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee

July 2006-: CBI Director-General

Family: Married to Harriet, has two children

Hobbies: Theatre and galleries

The Leader Questioned

If you could change one thing in the financial and commercial environment, what would it be?
Restore trust

Who is or was your mentor?
Sir Geoffrey Owen, former Financial Times Editor

Does money motivate you?
Up to a point

What is the most important event to happen in your working life?
Getting hired by the FT

What gadget must you have?
A corkscrew

What does leadership mean to you?
Responsibility

Which business person do you most admire?
Warren Buffett

How do you relax?
Reading the Saturday newspapers with Harriet [his wife] in Tinderbox Café

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