Digby Jones faces renewed criticism from Labour’s ranks after it emerged that he has voted only once in the House of Lords since his appointment to Gordon Brown’s “Government of all the talents”.

An analysis by The Times showed that he had failed to vote with Labour peers in 22 of the 23 divisions in the Lords since he was introduced in July. In this period the Government suffered eight defeats over legislation.

Lord Jones of Birmingham, who became a controversial figure among unions and the Left in his previous role as head of the CBI, styles himself as “non-affiliated”, and refused to join the Labour Party on being made

Minister for Trade and Investment, but agreed to take the Labour whip in the Lords. MPs and peers questioned yesterday how seriously he was following the party’s instructions on how to vote.

Martin Salter, a backbench member of Labour’s parliamentary committee, said: “Members of Parliament are expected to follow the Labour whip in deed as well as in word. At the moment it appears that Digby has only got it half right.”

A spokesman for Lord Jones’s department said: “Lord Jones is a busy minister whose portfolio regularly takes him away from London.”

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