Business needs to show more "Dunkirk spirit" and lead the country out of recession, according to a Kent boss.

Frazer Thompson, chairman of the Institute of Directors in Kent, said it was time to talk up the situation. There were good opportunities for business and many enterprises were doing well despite the downturn.

Mr Thompson said: "We’ve had enough talking things down and there’s got to be more positivity. We as business people in Kent have got to start backing our own businesses instead of whining about the situation."

Mr Thompson quoted historian A. L. Rowse who wrote in a book called The English Spirit: "The English...are lazy, constitutionally indolent. They are always being caught lagging behind, unprepared – again and again in their history it has been the same; and then, when up against it – they more than make up for lost time by their resourcefulness, their inventiveness, their ability to extemporise, their self-reliance."

It was time to roll the sleeves up and do something different. "We’ve got to be cheerful, but we’ve got to get on with it and we do need a bit of that Blitz mentality or the Dunkirk spirit."

Mr Thompson was speaking shortly after the IoD annual convention in the Royal Albert Hall.

The event was attended by senior business leaders, including the Eden Project’s Tim Smit and Marks and Spencer chief Sir Stuart Rose, as well as Chancellor Alistair Darling who defended the new 50p tax rate for high earners.

More than 2,000 bosses, including several from Kent, packed the hall. Miles Templeman, IoD director-general and chairman of Faversham brewer Shepherd Neame, chaired the convention.

"It’s encouraging that if you get enough people into a room together like the IoD convention, that’s the mood you get," Mr Thompson added. "There are people who are sick to death with talking things down."

He supported Mr Templeman’s call for employers not to stifle the bright ideas and inspiration of employees. It was business and that kind of inspiration that would drive the country out of recession.

Peter Reeves, managing director of Arena Pursuits, Tonbridge, attended the convention, and said he felt the positive attitude. "There’s a lot of potential and it’s probably one of the most exciting times to start a business," he said.

"I started my business in the early 1990s when there was a bit of a downturn. It did not occur to me there was a downturn, you just had a good idea and go for it."