Successful financier Howard Flight, who was controversially de-selected as Conservative MP for Arundel & South Downs at the start of the General Election campaign, has agreed to become chairman of the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA) from 1 June.

Flight was effectively forced to stand down by Conservative Central Office after promising greater tax cuts than the party had set out, if it were returned to power.

Now, however, the former MP, who set up investment bank Guinness Flight, will focus on lobbying the Government on behalf of investors and advisers to EIS companies, which attract generous tax breaks.