Latest news with #Skyhammer
The National
a day ago
- Business
- The National
Former Tory defence secretary Grant Shapps joins missile start up
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) has been criticised for allowing Shapps, no longer an MP, to become the chair of Cambridge Aerospace – as long as he promises not to work on defence matters. Acoba, which is due to be scrapped due to its ineffectiveness, deals with applications from former ministers and civil servants on new employment roles after leaving government. It ensures compliance with the Business appointment rules, which apply for one or two years after the official or minister has left their government role. Shapps served as defence secretary between August 2023 and July 2024, which falls within the grace period where former ministers must apply to Acoba if they want to take up a role in the private sector. READ MORE: MoD slammed after ministers not told about US troops on Scottish soil Cambridge Aerospace was founded three months after the July 2024 general election, where the Tories suffered a bruising loss and Shapps lost his Welwyn Hatfield seat. According to The Guardian, Shapps told the watchdog that the firm planned to 'develop technologies to reduce risks to aviation', citing the example of airport delays caused by drones. Acoba agreed he could take up the position at the company to provide 'strategic direction and high-level advice', as long as he did not consult on matters relating to defence. The watchdog appeared to agree with Shapps's description of Cambridge Aerospace as a company focusing on "civilian aerospace'. (Image: Owen Humphreys) However, the company, which has attracted £73.9 million ($100m) in funding, outlined its plans to investors as a 'defence tech' firm. It also referred to the need to prepare for a 'new era of warfare'. Professor Steven Barret, the firm's co-founder and acquaintance of Shapps, told Bloomberg last month that Cambridge Airspace's 'one mission' is to 'protect the UK and our allies from the well-known threats we face from the skies'. Skyhammer, the company's first product, can be used to intercept drones and cruise missiles, with comparisons being drawn to Israel's Iron Dome. Acoba told Shapps there was a 'limited' risk of a conflict of interest. READ MORE: Labour under Corbyn 'capitulated' over anti-semitism – Zarah Sultana 'Whilst you will have had oversight of a wide range of information on policy, operations and matters generally affecting defence, there is no direct overlap with your access to sensitive information as this work focuses on civilian aerospace,' advice sent to the former Tory minister said. A spokesperson for Transparency International said: 'Oversight of this revolving door rests on little more than gentlemen's agreements, with no means in practice of enforcing the business appointment rules. 'It will just invite abuse until the rules governing former ministers entering the private sector are tightened, and properly enforced.' Shapps told the Guardian: 'I joined Cambridge Aerospace because I have always believed in the importance of protecting our civilian airspace — a belief only strengthened by witnessing the devastation caused by Russia's aggression in Ukraine. 'As the company has grown, so too have the threats facing our nation. Our mission is to develop technology that can save lives, strengthen UK and allied security, and create highly skilled British jobs. I'm proud to be a founding partner in a business dedicated to those goals.' Acoba said it had told Shapps not to engage on defence matters while serving in the role as chair for two years. A spokesperson added: 'The committee also took into account that as a qualified pilot since 1995, Mr Shapps had a long-term interest in aviation, unrelated to his time in ministerial office.' Earlier this year, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to replace Acoba with a tougher system of checks on roles ministers take on after leaving office.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Watchdog condemned for clearing Grant Shapps to join defence startup
The parliamentary standards body has been criticised for clearing Grant Shapps, a former Conservative defence secretary, to join a defence startup as long as he promises not to work on defence matters. In a ruling that drew scorn from political ethics experts, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which monitors and advises on the revolving door between Westminster and the business sector, gave Shapps the green light to become the chair of Cambridge Aerospace. Shapps told Acoba that the company, founded three months after the Conservatives' general election defeat last year, planned to 'develop technologies to reduce risks to aviation'. Disclosures show he cited examples such as airport delays caused by drones. Acoba, which is due to be scrapped amid allegations that it is 'toothless', agreed he could take up the position, providing 'strategic direction and high level advice', on condition that he did not work on matters related to defence. Acoba appeared to accept Shapps's description of Cambridge Aerospace's activities, saying the company's work 'focuses on civilian aerospace', meaning there was no direct overlap with the former defence minister's access to sensitive information. The Labour MP Phil Brickell said this explanation was 'stretching credulity' given Cambridge Aerospace's own public statements and backers. The company, which has attracted around $100m (£73.9m) in funding, outlined its plans in a presentation to investors, first reported by The Upstart and subsequently obtained by The Guardian. Slides in the presentation describe Cambridge Aerospace as a 'defence tech' company and refer to the need to prepare for a 'new era of warfare'. Speaking to Bloomberg last month, Prof Steven Barrett, Cambridge Aerospace's co-founder and a longtime acquaintance of Shapps, said the company had 'one mission'. This was 'to protect the UK and our allies from the well-known threats we face from the skies'. The company's first product, dubbed Skyhammer, aims to intercept drones and cruise missiles, leading to comparisons with Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system. The technology is understood to have been initially intended to counter drones and could expand to include defence against threats including ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The firm is planning to operate from an engineering site in Munich and a manufacturing hub in the Polish city of Gdansk. Barrett's co-founder, Chris Sylvan, previously worked for Anduril, a California-based defence company that is developing what Sylvan appears to have described as 'robot fighter jets' in a post on the professional social networking platform LinkedIn. The post is no longer available. Shapps served as defence secretary between August 2023 and July 2024, a tenure that falls within the two-year grace period during which former ministers must apply to Acoba if they want to take up private sector roles. The system is designed to ensure that ministers and their new employers do not benefit unfairly from information or contacts garnered from their time in government. Acoba can only advise on appointments but, in practice, has no power to block them, unlike its equivalent body in France, which can veto appointments. In its advice to Shapps, Acoba said the risk of a conflict of interest was 'limited'. 'Whilst you will have had oversight of a wide range of information on policy, operations and matters generally affecting defence, there is no direct overlap with your access to sensitive information as this work focuses on civilian aerospace,' it said. Earlier this year, Keir Starmer pledged to replace Acoba, which was described as 'toothless' in a 2017 report, with a tougher system of checks and balances to monitor ministers' private earnings after leaving office. Brickell said Acoba's advice to Shapps was 'yet another example' of why Labour was getting rid of Acoba. 'It's weak, has no teeth and doesn't have the powers to prevent conflicts of interest from arising,' he said. 'Grant Shapps seems to be saying one thing about what he'll be doing, while his company is saying another. It is stretching credulity to breaking point. The authorities clearly need to look at this again, and Shapps should resign from this post if he can't provide satisfactory answers.' A spokesperson for the campaign group Transparency International said: 'Oversight of this revolving door rests on little more than gentlemen's agreements, with no means in practice of enforcing the business appointment rules. 'It will just invite abuse until the rules governing former ministers entering the private sector are tightened, and properly enforced.' Shapps said: 'I joined Cambridge Aerospace because I have always believed in the importance of protecting our civilian airspace — a belief only strengthened by witnessing the devastation caused by Russia's aggression in Ukraine. 'As the company has grown, so too have the threats facing our nation. Our mission is to develop technology that can save lives, strengthen UK and allied security, and create highly skilled British jobs. I'm proud to be a founding partner in a business dedicated to those goals.' A spokesperson for Acoba pointed to the advice it had given Shapps not to engage in defence matters for two years. 'The committee also took into account that as a qualified pilot since 1995, Mr Shapps had a long-term interest in aviation, unrelated to his time in ministerial office,' they added. Barrett said: 'In the less than a year since Cambridge Aerospace was formed, we have developed a range of products, hired nearly 60 people into highly skilled engineering roles, and continue to invest significantly in full domestic manufacturing. 'As we have seen in Ukraine, the need to protect against a range of threats from the air, targeted at anything from infrastructure to civilian populations is only increasing. I am incredibly proud of the work our team has done to provide a low-cost solution that can provide vital defensive capabilities to these threats facing Europe and our allies.'
