Hillary Clinton would appoint Bill Clinton to lead on the economy

Ms Clinton said she would put her husband in charge of revitalising economically depressed areas

Hillary Clinton has long talked about her husband being an adviser (KEITH BEDFORD/Reuters)

The Clinton dynasty is set to continue if Hillary Clinton is elected president, as her husband would be given a powerful - if informal - title on one of the most important issues for voters.

Ms Clinton said she would put her husband “in charge of revitalizing the economy”, particularly in deprived areas.

“My husband, who I'm going to put in charge of revitalizing the economy, 'cause you know he knows how to do it,” Ms Clinton told the crowd at a rally in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. "And especially in places like coal country and inner cities and other parts of our country that have really been left out."

She will not be able to appoint him in her cabinet due to the 1967 anti-nepotism statute, but he could still have significant influence, according to MSNBC.

“I have asked, actually, to be given the job of trying to help every part of the United States that has been left out and left behind economically,” Bill Clinton said in Puerto Rico. “And I think it is very, very important.”

According to CNN Money, 22 million jobs were created when Bill Clinton was president, more than the last four tenures of Republican presidents combined, partly thanks to the boom of the internet and web-related stocks.

His critics argue that Mr Clinton removed regulations which encouraged commercial banks to move into investment banking and insurance, a move which some say led to the credit crunch in 2008, and that his trade agreements with Mexico, Canada and China cost US jobs.

Ms Clinton's announcement has come under fire by presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, who questioned why someone other than the president would take the lead on the economy.

Hillary Clinton’s team said there has been no formal announcement but that she has long said her husband would act as an adviser.

David Axelrod, president Obama’s adviser, also said on social media it was “ill-advised” to make Bill Clinton the “czar” on the economy.

Before the anti-nepotism law was passed, various politicians and relatives have served in the same government, most notably Bobby Kennedy serving as attorney general while his brother John F Kennedy was in the White House.

When Bill Clinton was president, he appointed his wife to head up his Health Reform Task Force, which included high-ranking members of his cabinet.

The task force was only formed after critics sued to block it but the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their bid, thereby creating a precedent for other presidents to appoint family members in non-cabinet roles.