We might not have got it right but we did think about what we could do for business at the last election – though we appear not to be doing that now.

This was the gist of Chris Leslie’s message to a Progress event on the opening day of Labour’s Brighton conference. ‘I appeal to the frontbench to be careful with the rhetoric about business and avoid aggressive tones,’ he said, because ‘dialogue matters’. Portraying business as a bunch of predators was as ‘bonkers’ as threatening to nationalise the commanding heights of the economy, he went on. Not only was he not impressed with ‘people’s QE’ – ‘If we hoodwink people by saying there is a magic solution to the deficit we will fail’ – but it was ‘nonsense’ to believe that there was £120bn in unpaid tax to be found.

Discussing ‘How does Labour rebuild Relationships with Business’ the former shadow chancellor, who declined any possibility of serving in a Corbyn top team, claimed that the pre-election offer to business – certainty on Europe, reforms to help small businesses and targeted investment – was made up of sound policies but presented together they may have given the impression of wanting to control companies more, though that was never the aim. The ‘anti-business’ jibes had stuck and we did not do enough to counter them, even though the Tories’ increasingly laissez-faire approach does not help business in the way that government should, he said.

Labour should not rely on employees’ natural hostility to business-owners as this usually does not exist – genuine partnership needs to be a valued in any programme to rebuild public services, tackle poverty and grow our way out of austerity. Good business – which values its employees, cares about its community and seeks sustainable approaches to trade – is not uncommon and is as likely to be found among major corporates as the country’s five million SMEs. He accepted that there could be a role for business and the workplace as social partners with government, perhaps on the public health agenda; and he praised the Co-operative Councils movement for being both innovative and inclusive in creating new relationships with local businesses, foreseeing a greater role for cooperatives, mutuals and social enterprise in the economy. We need a successful banking industry but not one built on excessive risk, while the separation of retail and investment banking would be welcomed by business.

What started as a conversation between Leslie and Tim Hames of the British Venture Capital Association grew animated as the meeting became a dialogue between Leslie and the sympathetic audience. We saw more evidence of the first part of his philosophy of ‘passion with prudence’, and his call for evidence-based policymaking was close to exasperated. He ended with a rallying cry: fairness, social justice and equality are Labour values, he said, while exploitation and unearned advantage are nothing to celebrate. ‘Success needs to be tempered by responsibility to the common good’ in business as elsewhere: ‘hear, hear’ to that.

The youngest member of the 1997 parliament is still young and has benefitted from a forced five-year career break from 2005. With his broad understanding, inclusive and common-sense approach Leslie deserves to be the next Labour chancellor; he will not scare the horses and he will listen to business’ legitimate concerns while engaging them as partners in enterprise. Who knows where he will be in five years’ time? Or will it be 10?

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Tom Levitt is former member of parliament for High Peak. He tweets at @sector4focus