The new chairman of ITV needed only two words to introduce himself to reporters: “It’s Archie”. It conveys both his signature informality and the belief that he, like ITV’s Ant and Dec, is so famous that he needs no further introduction.

Archie Norman was the first chairman of a FTSE 100 company to enter the House of Commons. He found the experience so frustrating he concluded he’d be the last.

Mr Norman took over the helm of the stricken Asda supermarket chain in 1991, in his late thirties, and swiftly imposed a corporate egalitarianism. All staff were “colleagues”, wore name badges describing themselves as “happy to help” and sat in open-plan offices. In 1999, Mr Norman made £5.7 million when Asda was sold to Wal-Mart for £6.7 billion.

Yet the Asda way failed to translate into politics. William Hague, a friend from their time together at the McKinsey management consultancy company, persuaded Mr Norman to stand for the safe seat of Tunbridge Wells.

He became “chief executive” of the Conservative Party, reforming Central Office by banning smoking and making the offices open-plan. But his impatience with political process irritated colleagues.

He backed Michael Portillo for the Tory leadership in 2001, and the failure of his candidacy left Mr Norman on the back benches. A return to business was inevitable, and he became chairman of the collapsed phone company Energis, which was sold to Cable & Wireless three years later for £674 million.

Mr Norman left Parliament in 2005 and has since run a venture-capital business that bought HSS Hire, the tool- rental company, which has struggled in the recession. He is also deputy chairman of Coles, an Australian supermarket chain.

Yesterday, Mr Norman described his decision to take the job of ITV chairman as “my return to public company life”. It is his chance to erase the failures of the Conservative years and show that the success of Asda was not just a one-off.

Midfield dynamo

Track record
Cerebral, calculating midfield player, who achieved fame and glory rescuing Asda in the 1990s — but has since found silverware more elusive.

Tough eight-year spell with the Conservatives, when they were mid-table at best, sent him back to the boardroom. He then rescued the phone company Energis. The return to ITV is one last chance to show that he can pull off an Asda-style rescue again in the top flight

Age
55

Transfer fee
£300,000 a year, and shares worth some £219,000 for three years

Value
£72 million to ITV’s market value

Style
Midfield general in the mould of Michael Ballack — keen to set up others to score