Bernard Ginns: 'Tarzan' swinging back into the frontline of politics

The man once known as Tarzan, now a septuagenarian, lifted his greying mane and laughed, prompting a mass clicking of camera shutters among the photographers at the press conference.

"There's a very simple answer – because David Cameron asked me to do it." He added: "It's in the blood. We love it."

That was not the royal 'we', although there is something regal about the old Tory's bearing. Rather, he was referring to his colleague, Sir Ian Wrigglesworth, another former MP lured out of retirement to help the coalition Government. The pair have been charged with advising the Government on its 1.4bn regional growth fund.

This fund is supposed to give an extra push to private sector job creation in those parts of the country most dependent on public sector jobs.

It was fitting, then, that the roadshow publicising the fund was held in South Yorkshire, the beneficiary of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money over the last decade.

Lord Heseltine, the chairman of the advisory panel, insisted that private sector growth forecast for this year would offset public sector job losses. But he added: "The Government was fully aware that there were bound to be areas of the national economy that were adversely affected by cuts... because those areas were disproportionately dependent on public expenditure."

The fund, he said, aims to help create sustainable private sector jobs and secure gearing so public investment is backed up with private cash. It is now open for bids.

Small businesses, the backbone of the economy and vital to future prosperity, cannot bid directly to the fund, but should be able to apply for cash via the main clearing banks or chambers of commerce, said Lord Heseltine.

Sir Ian Wrigglesworth said the fund should not been seen as "a national regional development agency", with property assets and thousands of staff.

The former SDP politician described with accuracy how Labour's public spending bonanza affected the economy in the North of England.

He said: "There is almost a dependency culture in the business community. Some businesses seem to think they need a grant just to run a business. That's the exact opposite of what we're about.

"What we want to see are the regions standing on their own feet without Government support because if you don't have a market, if you have a subsidised situation, you are never going to get the innovation and dynamism that comes from the private sector."

It is difficult to disagree with that analysis, though with access to finance remaining restricted, the desired growth may be some time coming.

James Newman, who heads the new local enterprise partnership covering Sheffield and its surrounding towns, spoke at the event about the issues facing the region. He said the scrapping of the regional development agency, the governme nt office for the region and Business Link had created economic uncertainty and damaged business confidence in Yorkshire.

He added: "The English regions are again likely to bear the brunt of the cuts when compared to London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of whom still have significant local autonomy over their own economic strategy as well as the funding to back it up."

Mr Newman said Yorkshire has "a heritage of strong skills, strong work ethic, entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as providing the industrial base for the important industries of the future", such as nuclear, aerospace, low carbon, healthcare and creative and digital sectors, supported by the UK's second-largest financial and professional services centre. All positive attributes that bode well for the region.

Summing up, Lord Heseltine has been in politics a long time and has experienced tougher economic and political challenges than this one.

"It was worse in the 1980s," he told me. "The trade union situation was diabolical. The inflationary levels were horrendous and the mood in the country was more difficult."

He is rightly confident about the strength and quality of the UK's private sector, but knows it will be hard work restructuring the economy in the North of England.