After last week’s Budget you would have been hard-pushed to think of somebody less popular with the business community than Alastair Darling.

After throwing a few decent jabs of response last Wednesday, you’d think David Cameron would have stepped back, out of the fray to let a bewildered Darling stumble and fall to his knees.

Cameron’s let him off the hook though and given him the chance of a mandatory eight-count. Yesterday, at the launch of the party’s policy paper, the Tory leader took some hefty blows himself as business bodies rounded on him in an attempt to ward off yet more red tape.

This time, the issue is not taxation, but corporate social responsibility. Cameron has backed proposals to get companies to voluntarily help tackle society’s problems. This followed his proposal for 52 weeks’ flexible leave for new parents, which didn’t go down well in some quarters.

While in favour of the principle of taking responsibility for the community in which companies operate, David Frost, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, outlined his concerns that businesses will be burdened with yet more restrictive regulation:

“A move to legislate further in this area would only serve to damage the competitiveness of UK Plc at a time when businesses are already struggling against a tougher economic climate.”

These “responsibility deals” would amount to “regulation by-proxy” the CBI argues. Cameron is managing to keep his guard up for now, saying that tax and regulation will only come down “if business plays its role in being responsible” which will in turn reduce demands on the state.

You may question why business should have to reduce the burden on the state when you’re responsible for your employees and are stretched by the demands of growth already. But without businesses, particularly entrepreneurial businesses playing a part, you get the impression nothing would happen.