Revolving Doors Revealed PDF Print E-mail
Manuela Mesco and Andy Rowell - 26 July 2011

The potential conflicts of interest that arise out of the “revolving door,” when senior civil servants and ex-Ministers move into lucrative jobs within the private sector, are explored in Radio Four’s File on Four this evening.

The programme looks at a number of issues, including health and defence and includes interviews with SpinWatch.

For a number of years, SpinWatch has been tracking a number of senior officials and ex-Ministers at the British Ministry of Defence who went to work for the Italian army giant Finmeccanica after they had a role in the procurement of a billionaire defence contract for the Italian company.

Sir Kevin Tebbit and Lord Bach were among those who moved from a government post to a job within the Italian group.  A number of other officials and Ministers have also moved from the MOD to Finmeccanica raising questions about the closeness between the two.

Tebbit and Bach both were employed at the MoD during negotiations that led to a £1 billion procurement contract secured by Finmeccanica’s subsidiary Agusta Westland to build 70 Future Lynx helicopters to be deployed in Afghanistan.

The helicopter contract was seen as absolutely vital to Augusta Westland.  Documents released under Freedom of Information show that in July 2005 the company “had a very limited order book and were very dependent on Future Lynx”.

Exactly why and how Agusta Westland won the contract, which was signed in June 2006, has been heavily criticized ever since by politicians and military experts.  Tebbit and Bach’s role is also controversial.

Sir Kevin Tebbit was permanent undersecretary at MOD from 1998 to November 2005, according to official records. He then moved to Finmeccanica UK, in July 2007. Although there are no documents showing Tebbit had direct control over the helicopter contract, the key decision making happened on his watch.

Lord Bach was Minister of Defence Procurement until May 2005. Documents released under Freedom of Information show that the year before he left, the Future Lynx was his responsibility. 

The government, under FOI laws, has admitted it had meetings with Agusta Westland in May 2004 and January 2005. The Government, though, has refused to release the minutes of these meetings, citing commercial confidentiality.

Bach was also instrumental in securing Agusta Westland a potentially lucrative contract to supply the US Presidential helicopter. According to correspondence dated January 2005 between Lord Bach and Alan Johnston, the then managing director of Agusta Westland, Johnston thanked Lord Bach for the help offered in securing the reportedly £850m US presidential helicopter fleet contract.

The letter wrote: “Dear Willy, Thanks you so much for all your help in securing the US Presidential contract”.  The contract was later cancelled under the Obama administration, as costs were on the rise.

Bach then moved to the Department of Environment, where he became Parliamentary Undersecretary of State, until May 2006. In October 2006, he was appointed chairman of Finmeccanica's subsidiary Selex Sensor and, in January 2007, he became director of Finmeccanica UK.

After Lord Bach left his government post, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) ruled in June 2006 that "for twelve months after leaving office, he should not be personally involved in lobbying government ministers or officials on behalf of Finmeccanica or their subsidiaries". Sir Kevin Tebbit's  appointments were, by contrast, “unconditionally accepted”, ACOBA  ruled. 

Tebbit has been quick to exploit his contacts since leaving the MOD. Just after the year’s deadline expired, in July 2007, Tebbit wrote to the then Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne to say “how much I am looking forward to working with you in my new capacity.” The letter went on to say: “I shall be based at Finmeccanica’s London HQ with the objective of strengthening the Group’s position in the UK, as well as internationally”.

Two months later Lord Drayson, the then Minister for defence equipment and support told Tebbit that he was “glad that Finmeccanica had appointed someone with such a strong knowledge of the MOD”.  

Bach and Tebbit are not the only ones with a “strong knowledge of the MOD”, who have been employed by the Italian arms giant. Other MOD officials moving from government to the company include Keith O' Nions and David Osmond. They were both appointed non-executive directors at Finmeccanica from September 2008. O'Nions was previously chief scientific adviser at MOD from 2000 to 2004 while Osmond was former UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator and past Permanent Secretary of the Home Office.

Another person to make the switch is Sir Brian Burridge, who commanded the UK Joint contingent in the 2003 Iraq War. Burridge left the Royal Air Force in January 2006 as Commander-in-Chief Strike Command and became the Vice President Strategic Marketing at Finmeccanica UK three months later.

Finally the former Defence secretary Geoff Hoon also took up a job with AgustaWestland, in May 2010. Hoon became the helicopter company's executive senior vice-president of international business, responsible for sales of helicopters outside the UK and Italy.

Before the last election Hoon was one of three Labour Ministers filmed by Channel 4’s Dispatches saying he wanted to make use of his international knowledge and contacts in a way that "makes money" and that he charged £3,000 a day.

Despite the revolving door, there has been persistent criticism of the Agusta Westland contract. Conservative MP Douglas Carswell stressed in 2008 that, according to a Hansard report, Lord Drayson – minister for defence procurement when the Finmeccanica contract was signed – admitted that the MOD had not run a competitive tender process for the Lynx helicopter.  It was, he wrote, “the judgement of the department that a competition...would cause delay”.

According to Colonel Stuart Tootal – former commander of 3 Para who resigned from the army in 2008 after having been deployed in Afghanistan – Sir Kevin Tebbit was still undersecretary at MOD when rival helicopters were excluded, Carswell said.

Speaking to SpinWatch, Tootal said that the £1bn contract for 70 Lynx helicopters “sounded expensive”. He also suggested that other types of helicopters, which might have also been cheaper, could have fitted much better for the Army’s needs in Afghanistan.

Tootal resigned for, in part due to the lack of equipment, especially, helicopters, that were available for British troops in Afghanistan.  He - like many other people - is still perplexed as to why the MOD chose the Future Lynx in the first place. Could it be due to the revolving door?
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