Lord Burns of Pitshanger in the London Borough of Ealing would not seem out of place in the script for Yes Minister. He has acquired the nickname “Teflon Terry” for his ability to flit, seemingly unaffected, from one sticky situation to another.

He is about as unlike his predecessor as chairman of Channel 4 as is possible. Luke Johnson, a former City media analyst-turned-successful entrepreneur, was hired in 2004 to provide some business drive to a channel that had lost its creative edge.

Lord Burns, with a CV that effortlessly melds Whitehall, a wide selection of quoted companies’ boardrooms and plenty of profile-raising work for new Labour, is the committee man par excellence, at home in the interface between business and Whitehall. His first job will be to find a chief executive to replace the former marketing man Andy Duncan at Channel 4.

His CV includes some staggering reverses, along with some clever political manoeuvring. His tenure as Permanent Secretary at the Treasury, from 1991 to 1998, included the national humiliation of Britain’s enforced departure from the exchange-rate mechanism. The job ended with a famous row with the newly arrived Gordon Brown, when, his friends say, he refused to fall into line with the new Labour spin machine.

Lord Lamont of Lerwick, who as Chancellor of the Exchequer promoted him from chief economic adviser to the Treasury and remains in touch with Lord Burns, recalls: “He was good with people. He has a first-class mind, he’s very clear and imaginative. I think he will do very well [at Channel 4].”

Remaining close to Tony Blair, in 2005 he served up a report on the future governance of the BBC, which introduced the notion, wildly unpopular at the Corporation, of “top-slicing” the licence fee to use some of the money elsewhere.

He had already been named as a potential chairman of the BBC and was also in the frame to run the media regulator Ofcom. Lord Burns chaired the Government’s controversial inquiry into hunting. Other politically sensitive jobs included chairman of the National Lottery Commission in 2001 and a review of the Football Association in 2005.

All this fleet-footed work for new Labour rewarded him with a second nickname — “Lord Fixit”. But in the corporate field, his record has been mixed. Some believe that his intelligence has not always translated into business acumen, and he has landed himself in situations that might have been avoided by someone with more low cunning.

In 2002 he became chairman of Abbey National, hiring Luqman Arnold as chief executive to turn the underperforming bank around. Progress was slow and much derided and Abbey ended up in the arms of the Spanish Banco Santander, sparking strong protests from some shareholders. Mr Arnold says now that Lord Burns achieved the best possible result for Abbey investors and customers. “He was the best chairman I ever worked for. Behind that rather avuncular, genial style there’s a first-rate brain and a very tough guy.”

Lord Burns spent two years as chairman of Marks & Spencer, another notorious corporate bear-pit that has wrecked the reputation of many a high achiever. His time there was marred by a failure to find a successor to Stuart, now Sir Stuart, Rose and a row over his pay-off on departure.

Amiable, widely liked by those who encounter or work for him, he has apparently moved through all this apparently unfazed, the “Teflon Terry” jibe still firmly attached. “I don’t think that’s fair at all,” insists Sir John Ritblat, who appointed him to the board of his British Land in 2000. “I think he’s the most sensitive and thoughtful man, whose credo is honesty and fairness, and it’s not in his character to be overly political.

“His great strength is to be an academic with a high intellect and to believe that logic and sense will prevail. It doesn’t always when you are dealing with characters who are motivated by different agendas and who have different aspirations.”

Lord Burns was educated in the North East and was a professor of economics at London Business School. He has a strong interest in music and is chairman of the governing body of the Royal Academy of Music. He is a loyal follower of Queens Park Rangers.

Lord Burns

Born: March 13, 1944

Educated: Houghton-le-Spring Grammar School, Tyne and Wear; University of Manchester

Career:

1980-91: chief economic adviser to the Treasury and head of the Government Economic Service;

1991-98: Permanent Secretary at the Treasury;

2001-present: chairman, Glas Cymru (Welsh Water);

2002-present: chairman, Abbey National;

2006-08: chairman, Marks & Spencer;

1999-present: non-executive director, Pearson;

2000-05: non-executive director, British Land;

2004-present: non-executive director, Banco Santander;

1996-2001: non-executive director, Queens Park Rangers plc

Family: Married, one son, two daughters