Patricia Hewitt, the former Health Secretary, was today named as the new senior independent director at BT, the embattled telecoms group that is labouring to restore the confidence of its investors.

Ms Hewitt, who also served as Minister of State for Small Business and E-Commerce at the Department for Trade and Industry, will replace Maarten van den Bergh, who steps down at BT's annual shareholder meeting on July 15.

Ms Hewitt has been on the board at BT since last March. She is retiring as MP for Leicester West at the next general election.

Her appointment comes a day after BT named Tony Ball as a non-executive director. Mr Ball has been tipped as the next chief executive of ITV, the commercial broadcaster, but the appointment to BT’s board has raised questions about whether he will be taking the job on.

At BT, Ms Hewitt will play a central role in discussions with the group's shareholders, who have been concerned about a ballooning deficit in the pension fund, the fate of the dividend and the performance of BT's global services division.

Some shareholders have expressed frustration at the performance of Ian Livingston, BT’s chief executive. Ms Hewitt will also chair discussions with other independent directors to assess Sir Michael Rake, the chairman.

BT raised hackles among some of its shareholders by agreeing a £2.85 million pay package for Mr Livingston, despite the group's poor performance.

BT is in the middle of cutting 15,000 jobs.

Last month, BT said that it would more than halve the annual dividend by 59 per cent to 6.5p a share. It also said that it would inject a further £280 million a year into its pension fund to help plug a £4 billion deficit.

BT paid Ms Hewitt £75,000 for the year to the end of March. She is likely to earn more than £100,000 a year when she takes on her new responsibilities.

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