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Lord Drayson courted by UK opposition party
September 7th, 2009 | DSEI 2009 | Posted by Tom Kington
Lord Drayson, the businessman turned politician who launched the UK’s Defense Industrial Strategy before resigning to go motor racing, got the clearest sign on Monday that he would be welcome to work with the Conservative party should it beat the incumbent Labour Party in next year’s UK election.
“I don’t regard him as a Labour Party apparatchik,” said Gerald Howarth, an opposition Conservative MP and shadow defense minister.
“He contributed a lot of money to the Labour Party and responds to the Labour whip, but is sufficiently interested in defense that if we required some help, I have little doubt he would respond,” said Howarth, adding that he not spoken to Drayson on the subject.
The Conservatives are currently ahead of Labour in pre-election polling.
Before he resigned in 2007, Drayson built the DIS program which tied contractors into long term relationships on complex weapons and helicopter work. He has now been reappointed as Minister of State for Strategic Defence Acquisition Reform.
“The benefits of the DIS are already manifest in some of the work we have been doing on complex weapons and also in the way we have been managing rotorcrafts,” said Lieutenant General Dick Applegate, Chief of Material (Land) for the UK Defense Equipment and Support Organisation.
“What we have to do is spread that best practise and I am keen to see how that will develop over the next year or so,” added Applegate, who was speaking on the record on the sidelines of a defense conference in London ahead of the DSEi 2009 show in London.
A senior UK-based defense industry official also lent his support to Drayson, adding that the Conservatives would be wise to hire him if they won the election.
“We have every intention of building on DIS 1 – the first implement of the DIS — and of course DIS 2 has never appeared,” said Howarth. “A lot in DIS 1 remains valid and we will seek to build on it. I have a high regard for Lord Drayson who did an excellent job and see no reason to overturn that work.”
Tags: Drayson, procurement