Patricia Hewitt, the former high-profile Government minister who spent four years as Trade and Industry Secretary, opened the first of a possible portfolio of private sector directorships today as she joined the board of BT, the FTSE 100 telecoms giant.

It is Ms Hewitt's first appointment as a non-executive director. In the £60,000 a year post, she will be expected to attend nine BT board meetings and possibly sit on committees covering remuneration and corporate and social responsibility.

She left Government only last year.

Ms Hewitt, a former press officer for Neil Kinnock, an ex-leader of the Labour Party and prime ministerial contender, is also a special consultant to Alliance Boots, the high-street chemist chain owned by KKR, the private equity group.

She is a senior adviser to Cinven, another private equity firm.

Ms Hewitt, married with two children, is joined as a new arrival at BT by Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds TSB, the fifth-largest high street bank.

Once they start work, BT's board will be 13 strong, with four executive directors and four independents. BT's chief executive is Ben Verwaayen, while the chairman is Sir Mike Rake.

Ms Hewitt, currently Labour MP for Leicester West, was minister for Trade and Industry from 1999 to 2001, before becoming Trade and Industry Secretary from 2001 to 2005.

Under her tenure, the DTi, often nicknamed the Department for Timidity and Inaction, was not held in particular affection by business and was seen as lacking leadership on consumer issues.

The DTi has since been disbanded under the Gordon Brown administration and replaced by the Department of Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Between 2005 and last year, Ms Hewitt was Health Secretary.

BT acknowledged that it operated contracts for telecommunications systems at both Government departments and would have had regular contact with Ms Hewitt in her capacity as secretary of state.

During her time in Government, the telecoms regulator Ofcom carried out a wholesale examination into the structure of BT as part of the Telecoms Strategic Review.

There is no suggestion of impropriety or favouritism.

Ms Hewitt was also formerly a director of research at Andersen Consulting, the consultancy now called Accenture. She is a co-founder and former deputy director of the Institute for Public Policy Research.

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