In the midst of global financial carnage, the Government has beefed up its financial expertise with the appointment of Paul Myners as Minister for the City.

The former fund manager, who was once chairman of Marks & Spencer, joins the Government as it grapples with a collapsing banking system and widespread public opprobrium towards bankers and speculators.

Mr Myners previously was chief executive of Gartmore, a pension fund manager, and is a director of GLG, the hedge fund. He is also chairman of Guardian Media Group and is stepping down from that role at Land Securities.

A respected figure in the City, Mr Myners conducted for the Government a review into institutional investment, which recommended reforms to City practices and cast a spotlight on the secretive commercial relationships between stockbrokers and fund managers.

The entry of Mr Myners into the Government emerged as Gordon Brown announced plans to create a National Economic Council to co-ordinate the country's response to the worsening global economic crisis. The new body, which will include Mr Myners, will take advice from experts outside government on matters relating to financial markets, business issues and commodity prices. It will seek to frame and co-ordinate a single response to the mounting economic crisis. The Prime Minister said he believed that other countries would follow Britain's lead in its effort to co-ordinate economic policy.

Mr Brown said: “My sense is that in a few months' time all governments round the world will be taking similar action to the action we are taking today.”

The economic council will be a full Cabinet committee and appears to be almost identical to the existing Economic Development Committee that it will replace. However, Mr Brown is taking charge of the council, whereas Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, led the previous Economic Development Committee. Mr Darling will be deputy chairman of the council.

The Government said yesterday that the council would take advice from external experts in different sectors of the economy and would have regional input from a new Regional Economic Council.

In a further move to link the business sector to the formation of government policy, Mr Brown has created a network of business ambassadors, including leading City figures, such as Marcus Agius, the chairman of Barclays; Sir Victor Blank, chairman of Lloyds TSB; Sir John Bond, chairman of Vodafone; and Lord Browne of Madingley, the former BP chief executive and managing director of Riverstone, a private equity group.

The role of the 17 ambassadors, who also include academics, the architect Lord Rogers of Riverside, Sir Terence Conran and the headhunter Anna Mann, will be to promote Britain on the international stage and to highlight trade and investment opportunties. Lord Jones of Birmingham, who resigned on Friday as Minister for Trade, is another ambassador.

In seeking to incorporate business expertise into policy-making, Mr Brown is following a path set by Tony Blair, who brought new Labour supporters into government, such as Lord Simon of Highbury. The former BP chairman was an adviser to the Cabinet from 1999 to 2002 and was appointed Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive