In his first intervention from the backbenches since relinquishing the Tory leadership, William Hague told MPs last night that the government's handling of the foot and mouth outbreak was the worst case of bureaucratic bungling he had ever come across.

Speaking during the second reading of the Animal Health Bill, Hague asked: "Is it any wonder that the agricultural community are hostile to greater powers for government departments of which their daily experience is so disappointing?"

Hague has been appointed as the political and economic adviser to the construction equipment maker JCB. He already had links to the company as the chairman Sir Anthony Bamford is a leading Tory party donor. He will earn £45,000-a-year. It has also emerged that Hague will also join the board of AES Engineering as a non-executive director. The company, which designs and manufactures mechanical seals for petrol pumps, is based in his home town of Rotherham.