Government’s ‘Independent’ Extremism Adviser Who Backs Palestine Protest Crackdown Has New Links to Defence Industry

An investigation by Byline Times and legal campaigners Good Law Project has revealed further close ties between a Government adviser who has called for tougher anti-protest clampdowns – and major defence industry players who could stand to benefit from it. 

Lord Walney, who is the Government’s ‘independent adviser’ on political violence and disruption, was appointed by Boris Johnson in 2020, after the former Labour MP backed the Conservative leader against Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 election. He has remained in the post under PM Keir Starmer.

The crossbench peer, who has backed calls for restrictions on protests by pro-Palestine groups and climate campaigners, has extensive links to the defence industry, including as a paid lobbyist. Walney, whose real name is John Woodcock, is “engagement director” of the Purpose Coalition – part of the lobbying firm Crowne Associates. 

He is also vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for AUKUS, the security partnership between Australia, United Kingdom and the United States of America. 

The AUKUS parliamentary group, formed after the signing of the agreement of the same name in March 2023, has received substantial funding from prominent defence firms. 

Arms manufacturers BAE Systems and military engineering firm Babcock International have contributed £15,000 each to the group’s operations over the past year, while defence industry lobby group ADS provided secretariat services of around £1,500 in the year to July 2024. 

Groups such as Palestine Action have often targeted BAE Systems, which has produced F35 military jet parts used by the Israeli state. Palestine Action was named by Lord Walney over a hundred times in his May report calling for harsher anti-protest laws, as a supposed “anarchist, anti-Israel activist group” that the Government should consider banning. 

All-Party Parliamentary groups have been criticised for offering an avenue for little-scrutinised lobbying of parliamentarians. In 2022, there were around 750 such groups, however following a tightening of the rules there are now just over 270. 

The connections have garnered fresh attention due to Lord Walney’s report from May this year, “Protecting our democracy from coercion”. It was published under Boris Johnson’s Government, and was publicly endorsed by the ADS Group. 

The controversial peer’s extremism report backed a series of restrictions on protests, hot off the heels of two major anti-protest laws. The recommendations included:

• The power to ban or limit the frequency of protests on the grounds of cost
• Powers to ban protest groups from organising, or raising money if they were judged to be causing ‘serious’ disruption
• A broadening of the definition of ‘serious disruption’ to allow police to outlaw a wider range of protests 
• New powers to allow businesses to sue protest groups for disruption
• Allowing police to make protest groups pay for the policing of their own protests – a move branded unworkable by policing experts
• Powers to impose exclusion zones around ‘places vital to the functioning of democratic governance’ such as Parliament, in order to protect them from ‘unreasonable protest activity’

Defence lobby group ADS’ chief executive, Kevin Craven, defended their backing for the report in the Financial Times, describing the aerospace, defence and security sectors as “vital contributors to UK prosperity.”

Lord Walney did not declare any of his financial interests in the defence sector in the report itself, though he has declared this where compelled to elsewhere (such as the House of Lords Register of Interests). 

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But Good Law Project and Byline Times have spotted a number of further engagements with defence lobbying groups that raise fresh questions about potential conflicts of interest. 

Lord Walney, whose former constituency of Barrow houses BAE’s nuclear submarine facility, has made several recent appearances at defence industry events – including a webinar co-hosted by ADS Group this June, titled: “UK-Türkiye defsec [defence and security] relations: a UK perspective.” It is unclear if he was paid to attend. 

In the webinar, Lord Walney identified himself as both a Member of the House of Lords and a senior advisor to public relations firm Rud Pedersen. The company lists defence and security companies as clients, as well as firms in high-polluting energy and industrial sectors often targeted by group’s like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion. 

Lord Walney also addressed The D Group last November – a business membership organisation which counts arms manufacturers BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin among its members, offering “high impact executive briefings” with “access to and engagement with exceptional and responsive networks.”

And the Government adviser attended defence lobbyist group ADS’ annual dinner at London’s Grosvenor House this January. It was not declared by the crossbench peer on his Register of Interests, as it is unlikely to have met the Lords’ threshold for declaring hospitality, which is £300. 

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The further links between Walney and the defence industry raise questions about Keir Starmer’s commitment to cleaning up politics, as his Government announces the appointment of its new “anti-corruption champion” in Baroness Margaret Hodge.

Good Law Project’s legal manager, Hannah Greer, said: “Keeping someone like Walney – a hangover from the Boris Johnson administration – on the Labour Government’s list of advisers after multiple examples of conflicts of interests is, frankly, a bit bizarre at this point. 

“With pledges to restore trust in politics and enhance integrity in our democracy, removing Walney immediately from post is an easy way to follow through on those commitments”.

Legal campaigners Good Law Project say the revelations cast more doubt on the ‘independence’ of his role, which is currently under review by the new Labour Government – as part of a ‘sprint’ review into counter-terrorism. 

Byline Times has also learned that Lord Walney’s staffing arrangements raise their own conflict of interest questions: his Executive Assistant is also an executive assistant at Crowne Associates. Crowne Associates listed oil giant BP as a major client, according to a Guardian report in 2022. 

There is no suggestion of rule-breaking by the firms named. 

Over 17,000 people have signed Good Law Project‘s petition to urge the Home Office to drop Lord Walney from his role as Government advisor on political violence and disruption. 

Lord Walney’s role is currently “under review” by the Labour Government as part of a potential overhaul of counter-terrorism arrangements. 

Government figures are expected to meet defence industry CEOs later this week to boost arms investment. 

Lord Walney was contacted for comment. 

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