The Profitable Nexus: How Ex-British Military Leaders Find Lucrative Roles in Business and Defence

Concerns swirl in Whitehall around retired senior British officers looking to advise foreign governments – conflicts of interest persist even if there is no wrongdoing, writes Iain Overton

The Middle East has always been a draw for the British military, with its history of coups and power struggles. From Lawrence of Arabia to Field Marshal Montgomery and Sir Richard Francis Burton, the allure of the desert sands and the high politicking of warring tribes seems to have wormed its way into the martial soul.

Such attraction has, though, had deep consequences for the region. When the British military helped create the borders of several countries in the region during and after World War One, it set the tone of border wars for years to come. 

Now, in a post-imperial age, Britain’s presence in the Gulf continues.

In 2019, the UK’s then Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson signed a Joint Defence Agreement with Oman, part of a wider regional pact that included “a new naval support facility in Bahrain and… ongoing cooperation at Al Udeid in Qatar”. Earlier this year, British troops were reported participating in Exercise Khanjar Oman, part of a four-month deployment with the Royal Army of Oman. 

Exactly why British soldiers should be training to protect desert Wadis, so far from Northern Ireland and Scotland where most of those troops were recruited, is unclear. One report said that it was to prepare them for “potential threats to the British public”. 

Such closeness, however, does not just reside in the realm of military state assisting military state.

Recent announcements by the UK Government’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) – a non-departmental public body that provides advice on the propriety of business appointments for former ministers, senior civil servants, and certain other Crown servants – has shown there are job opportunities for British ex-military in the region, too.

In November, ACOBA reviewed General Sir Nick Carter’s application for a paid appointment with Equilibrium Gulf Limited and Equilibrium Global Limited. It questioned the suitability of the former Chief of the Defence Staff in a consultancy role that aimed to provide advice on issues covered by Bahrain’s Government Priorities Framework and worried that “he could offer Equilibrium and its clients unfair access to information and influence”.

Despite these reservations, Carter’s request was approved. According to ACOBA, the former general had “confirmed that Equilibrium’s work has not, and will not, involve defence matters”. Equilibrium in turn is resolute: it has never done such defence work.

Equilibrium itself boasts a raft of ex-military British advisors and consultants who have worked for it in the past. Its two-page website also has a list of those it can reach out to for consultancy advice, including “former Chiefs of Defence Staff; and a former Secretary-General of NATO”.

One ex-British officer who works for the firm is Major-General Ashmore, former “Military Secretary” and later General Officer, Scotland. Another former advisor is General Sir Richards – now Lord Richards of Herstmonceux – a man reported in 2015 to have given “generic advice on geo-strategy and associated military strategic issues” to the UAE Government.

Among Equilibrium’s former teams there is also Lt Col Lee Marler, a barrister commissioned into the Army Legal Corps where “he rose from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel within 10 years”. Then there’s Richard Iron – the former Head of Land Doctrine in the British Army, whose role included “working with the King of Jordan to roll back radical Islam in the Horn of Africa”.

Given the dominance of former servicemen in the company, it raises the question: why pack their Middle East teams with such military expertise?

It is clear that no wrongdoing has been done by either these respected veterans nor the the company. But in a request for clarity, the latter did not answer this question, instead stating: “We don’t have these ex-military personnel on our books anymore.”

But these men are not the only ex-senior military who appear, post-service, to establish seemingly lucrative deals with companies very active in the global defence and diplomacy world.

In 2021, Admiral Sir Jones, former First Sea Lord, took up a role with BAE Systems as a senior military advisor. His role was to “build trusted relationships with international governments”. While Sir Jones himself does not work in the region, BAE Systems profits massively from the Middle East, with offices in Saudi and Oman.

In 2021, ACOBA also advised Lieutenant General Sir Urch, the former UK Commander Home Command, regarding his appointment with Jacobs Engineering Group. Jacobs is a US-based technical services firm that works extensively with the US military.

In 2020, Air Marshal Philip Osborn, former Chief of Defence Intelligence, became a non-exec director of Inzpire, one of the “fastest growing defence companies in the UK” (according to its website). In the same year, Lieutenant General Sir Mark Poffley, former Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, accepted a commission from KBR, a US-based company operating in, among other things, defence and intelligence. In addition, Major-General Wilson, former Master-General of the Ordnance left the Army in 2011 to work for eight years as head of strategy and marketing at the defence giant Thales Land and Air Systems UK. 

Again, there is no suggestion that anything was untoward with regards to these appointments. But back in Whitehall, there have been some concerns of retired senior British officers looking to advise foreign governments.

Last year, it was found that Admiral Sir George Zambellas, former First Sea Lord, had failed to seek ACOBA’s advice before taking up a paid role providing advice to the Hellenic Republic. In his defence, Sir George said he had not drawn on privileged information. 

But such moments shed light on the integrity of the post-office employment system; one designed to stop nepotism and revolving-door influence.

In a letter dated June 2022, Lord Pickles, the head of ACOBA, stated that the system needed reforming. That its credibility needed the establishment of a clearer risk profile, a sanctions regime, and the rules to be seen to be adhered to by many. As he noted, there was a “lack of assurance about individual departments’ application of the rules below ACOBA level (which are the great majority)”.

For the present, though, ACOBA claims that it adheres to the “highest standards of integrity” when it comes to appointments and all the companies named above are adamant that they adhered to “full compliance” with these standards. There is no evidence anyone mentioned in this article did not serve the statutory time away from their high ranks of office before accepting the commercial shilling.