MP for Cradley Margot James has been given a top new job by Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Conservative MP is one of seven Members of Parliament appointed to make up Mr Cameron's new policy advisory board which has been likened to Margaret Thatcher's appointment of junior ministers in the 1980s to help ease the mid-term doldrums.

MP Jo Johnson is heading up the new board, previously run by a civil servant, which will be part of the Number 10 policy unit and which will see each MP covering certain policy areas.

Ms James, who is PPS to Lord Green as Minister of State for Trade and Investment, said she was "thrilled" with the new appointment and she hopes to have an impact on areas including business, trade and the economy, the NHS and social care for older people and those with disabilities - and foreign affairs and international development.

She added: “We’ll be advising the Prime Minister on policy and critique ongoing performance in some areas where the government has made some changes to see how things are going.”

The policy unit will meet once a month.