Intelligence, passion, dedication, determination, numeracy: tax pros may possess many admirable traits - but is good dress sense one of them?

I went searching for the answer last night at the CIOT's annual summer reception on the Commons' terrace.

My desire for couture-based enlightenment was inspired by a meeting earlier this week with my friend Harriet, a fashion writer for a national newspaper.

We had come to a mild difference of opinion on the subject of man-chic, so it was with an eye for the fellas that I cruised the room last night.

And - oh! - the horrors that I saw: brown shoes were worn with black suits; checked jackets covered striped shirts, and those shirts were accessorised with patterned ties.

There may have even been a double-breasted jacket or two on show.

One bloke rocked up sporting a short-sleeved-shirt-and-tie combo best left for air stewards of cheapo airlines and Andy Sipowicz, the shabby protagonist of long-running cop drama NYPD Blue.

But that was me. I'm a journalist and my suit was rather sharp, so I don't count among tax's style villains.

The best dressed man in attendance was Conservative MP David Gauke, in a dark blue whistle-and-flute, pale pink shirt and blue-and-pink tie that brought his ensemble together nicely.

Although he dropped a vogue-point for a rather sloppy Windsor knot.

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