Advisor O'Neill rules out government job but backs PM's devolution plans

The economist Lord Jim O'Neill, who has been advising the prime minister, has said he will not be taking a job in Andy Burnham's government.

Lord O'Neill, a crossbench peer, was once a treasury minister under the Conservatives.

As first reported by , external the Financial Times, he said he did not want the constraints involved in taking on a formal role.

The former chief economist at Goldman Sachs had been tipped to become Burnham's chief economic adviser.

He said he was enjoying what he was currently doing too much and did not want to have to give up control of his business interests to comply with official rules.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he had "lots of other things that are going on that I very much enjoy" and, having been a minister before, he knew the job included "all the constraints that understandably go with it, like a blind trust and to abandon everything else you do, never mind the fact that it's 24/7".

In placing shares in blind trusts, ministers have no knowledge of how their investment is being handled, to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

He said he concluded he would rather be a voice to talk to and "get on with the rest of the things in my life".