Dame Judith Hackitt set to lead UK’s manufacturing body

She will take up the post on 4 April, replacing Martin Temple CBE, who will step down after more than 17 years as director general and then chairman of the body, which represents manufacturing, and is now in its 120th year.

A chemical engineer by profession, Judith Hackitt, who became a Dame in the 2016 New Year Honours, takes the reins of an organisation whose members include a wide cross-section of manufacturers and a sector facing many global headwinds, as it seeks to strengthen manufacturing’s position in a rebalanced UK economy.

Her fellow board members, who include representatives from Jaguar Land Rover, Siemens, Tata and the Marshall Group, are preparing for a critical year in which the future of Britain’s role in the EU looms large.