Helen Alexander received two rounds of spontaneous applause without even speaking at the CBI dinner last week, such is the excitement about the British employers’ group having its first female president.

Ms Alexander, whose election is expected next week, has called for greater boardroom diversity, saying it could put an end to the “groupthink” that contributed to recent financial disasters. “It is clear that teams that have diversity within them don’t result in groupthink. People come at things in a different way and organisations have to take those into account,” she told the Financial Times.