Is this why ex-Foreign Office boss wants a ban? Mandarin who dragged Queen into state visit row is paid by arms giant on Trump’s hit-list

  • Lord Ricketts, permanent secretary from 2006-2010, slammed planned visit
  • In public letter, he said Theresa May had put Queen in 'very difficult position'
  • It has now emerged he is adviser to Lockheed Martin, which took financial hit
  • Last week, Trump announced contract was slashed by $600million (£478m) 

Lord Ricketts, pictured with actress Salma Hayek, is US defence giant Lockheed Martin's main adviser in the UK

Lord Ricketts, pictured with actress Salma Hayek, is US defence giant Lockheed Martin's main adviser in the UK

A former Foreign Office mandarin who dragged the Queen into the row over Donald Trump’s state visit is paid to advise a defence company that has taken a huge financial hit from the new president.

Lord Ricketts, permanent secretary at the department from 2006-10 before becoming David Cameron’s national security adviser, questioned whether the US leader was ‘specially deserving of this exceptional honour’.

He hit out at Theresa May’s ‘ill-judged’ move, saying it had exposed the Queen to a furious row about Mr Trump’s controversial travel ban on seven Muslim countries.

The invitation had put the monarch in a ‘very difficult position’, he said.

But it emerged that his intervention happened to coincide with President Trump announcing that a contract with US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin would be slashed.

On Monday, the White House forced the company to cut its price for supplying 90 new F-35 stealth fighter jets by $600million (£478million). The full cost of delivering the tranche of state-of-the-art aircraft was $9billion (£7.2billion). Britain is set to buy 48 of the jets.

Last night critics expressed concern that Lockheed’s top British strategic adviser was undermining President Trump’s trip to the UK because of his treatment of the defence manufacturer.

But Lord Ricketts, 64, strenuously denied there was any conflict of interest – and insisted he had spoken out only as an ex-FCO official who had been in charge of the department’s Royal Visits Committee.

The Prime Minister’s invitation to Mr Trump sparked an outcry in the UK, with more than 1.6million people signing a petition calling for it to be scrapped. Lord Ricketts, who was given a peerage in Mr Cameron’s resignation honours list last August, intervened in the row with a letter to The Times.

He told Radio 4 yesterday: ‘I think if you did it two or three years into the Trump presidency, the controversial early policy announcements would have been out of the way, things would have settled down.

Lord Ricketts' intervention happened to coincide with President Trump announcing that a contract with US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin would be slashed

Lord Ricketts' intervention happened to coincide with President Trump announcing that a contract with US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin would be slashed

‘It would have been possible, I think, to have invited the president... to come on an official visit to have political talks, to have whatever programme he wanted, go and have tea with the Queen, but without the full panoply, the full accolade of a state visit quite so quickly.’

Lord Ricketts became a strategic adviser to Lockheed Martin UK in September last year – just eight months after quitting the diplomatic corps. He has listed his role with the firm in the Register of Lords’ Interests but is not required to set out his remuneration.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith last night lashed out at the former top bureaucrat.

He said: ‘Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I have to say it is abusing his old role by coming forward at this point to suggest the Government has put the Queen in an invidious position by holding a state visit for the president.

‘Not only did he backtrack on his initial idea that the visit should be cancelled, he also failed to declare his interest in a company that President Trump has lectured about the ludicrously over-priced aircraft. There looks to be a conflict of interest.’

SUPPORT FOR THE PRO-TRUMP PETITION IS GATHERING PACE

More than 10,000 people an hour were signing a petition calling for Donald Trump to be granted a state visit last night.

The US President has faced an online backlash in Britain since announcing his controversial travel ban at the weekend, with more than 1.7million signing a petition urging ministers to withdraw the offer of a state visit.

But yesterday pro-Trump supporters hit back with their own online appeal, which had gathered more than 170,000 signatures last night.

The petition states that Mr Trump should be invited ‘because he is the leader of a free world and the UK is a country that supports free speech and does not believe that people that appose [sic] our point of view should be gagged.’ By last night the petition was attracting 10,000 signatures an hour, overtaking the 8,600 signatures an hour of the huge anti-Trump plea.

MPs will debate both petitions on February 20, it was announced last night.

The anti-Trump document states: ‘Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.

‘Donald Trump’s well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales. Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official State Visit.’

n Austria has become the latest European country to ban burkas after its leaders said that they did not belong in an ‘open society’.

The move will see the Islamic veils prohibited in public places, while public servants will be prevented from wearing the head coverings.

The controversial decision is a part of a series of measures aimed to win back support from the far-Right. They include plans to force migrants to sign an ‘integration contract’ and a ‘statement of values’, and former jihadi suspects to be forced to wear electronic tags.

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Tory MP Philip Hollobone said: ‘The Queen has not been put in a difficult position at all. She hosts visits for heads of state from around the world, from the most important countries, and she has done that throughout her reign. Britain does not agree with all the policies of these countries. Questions are being asked about why Lord Ricketts intervened now and whether there is a potential conflict of interest.’

Lord Hague said: ‘A Queen who has been asked over the decades to host tyrants such as presidents Mobutu of Zaire and Ceausescu of Romania is going to take a brash billionaire from New York effortlessly in her stride.’

Lord Ricketts told the Mail last night: ‘My intervention was purely personal, drawing on my experience at the Foreign Office. I had a personal point to make into this debate and as a former senior civil servant, I was stating my view in public. There is absolutely no conflict of interest.’

A Lockheed Martin UK spokesman said: ‘Lord Ricketts was speaking in a private capacity and his views are not those of Lockheed Martin.’ Mrs May’s spokesman said she did not ‘accept’ the adviser’s view.

 

Is Trump worse than Assad? The unsavoury leaders including the Syrian dictator, Robert Mugabe and Nicolae Ceausecu who the Queen has met 

If and when Donald Trump visits the Queen he will be among more than 100 world leaders she has welcomed on state visits. Here we list some of the more unsavoury characters she has had to entertain.

President BASHAR AL-ASSAD of Syria – December 2002

He and his British-born wife Asma dined with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. While not a formal state occasion, the UK rolled out the red carpet after then-PM Tony Blair extended an invitation.

The visit was mired in controversy due to the president’s alleged support of Palestinian and Islamic terror groups. Assad now stands accused of killing civilians with chemical weapons and barrel bombs during Syria’s brutal civil war.

Assad and his British-born wife Asma dined with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. While not a formal state occasion, the UK rolled out the red carpet after then-PM Tony Blair extended an invitation

Assad and his British-born wife Asma dined with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. While not a formal state occasion, the UK rolled out the red carpet after then-PM Tony Blair extended an invitation

VLADIMIR PUTIN – June 2003

The Russian president’s only state visit to Britain in 2003 was marked by protests against his continued repression of separatists in Chechnya. The visit was organised by Mr Blair, who admired Putin as a ‘moderniser’. It happened three years before the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London – allegedly by Russian agents - which resulted in a hardening of relations between Britain and Moscow.

As well as Chechnya, demonstrators were unhappy about his regime’s treatment of minority groups, along with Russia’s poor prison conditions and high occurrence of domestic violence.

The Russian president’s only state visit to Britain in 2003 was marked by protests against his continued repression of separatists in Chechnya

The Russian president’s only state visit to Britain in 2003 was marked by protests against his continued repression of separatists in Chechnya

President XI JINPING of China – October 2015

Protesters turned out in force for the visit of Xi Jinping – and there were even rumours of royal unrest about his arrival. Members of Amnesty International, pro-Tibet campaigners and followers of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, banned in mainland China, were present on The Mall in central London. But they were outmuscled by hordes of people wearing bright red who shouted the president’s name as he was driven past in a gilded carriage.

Protesters turned out in force for the visit of Xi Jinping – and there were even rumours of royal unrest about his arrival in 2015

Protesters turned out in force for the visit of Xi Jinping – and there were even rumours of royal unrest about his arrival in 2015

President ROBERT MUGABE of Zimbabwe – May 1994

He had already been blamed for the deaths of 10,000 people during crackdowns on rebel groups in the 1980s – long before his visit to Britain. But, with the full horror of the Zimbabwean leader’s regime yet to emerge, he was welcomed as a trading partner and for his ‘influence on peace’ in southern Africa. He was welcomed by Princess Margaret at Heathrow and taken by Rolls Royce to meet a delegation including the Queen and then Prime Minister John Major. He then accompanied the Queen for a five-minute procession by carriage to Buckingham Palace.

Mugabe was made an Honorary Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath during the visit. But he was later stripped of the honour amid concern about the brutality meted out by his supporters and his chronic mismanagement of the country.

With the full horror of the Zimbabwean leader’s regime yet to emerge, Mugabe was welcomed as a trading partner and for his ‘influence on peace’ in southern Africa

With the full horror of the Zimbabwean leader’s regime yet to emerge, Mugabe was welcomed as a trading partner and for his ‘influence on peace’ in southern Africa

President SUHARTO of Indonesia – November 1979

With his regime blamed for up to one million deaths after the bloody invasion of East Timor five years earlier, President Suharto’s visit stirred up controversy. But the Indonesian despot’s arrival was hailed by some commentators as an ‘excellent opportunity’ for the UK defence industry.

He was confronted on arrival in Downing Street by demonstrators carrying placards with slogans about Indonesian brutality.

Romanian President NICOLAE CEAUSESCU – June 1978

Dissidents from Romania who had fled their homeland’s Communist regime were outraged at the state visit. Jim Callaghan’s Labour government wanted to broker a deal with Romania to co-produce aeroplanes.

Shortly before their arrival, French President Valery Giscard D’Estaing had telephoned the Queen to warn that Ceausescu and his wife Elena had walked off with valuables from their state rooms on a visit to Paris.

Dissidents from Romania who had fled their homeland’s Communist regime were outraged at the state visit from Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu

Dissidents from Romania who had fled their homeland’s Communist regime were outraged at the state visit from Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu

President MOBUTO SESE SEKO of Zaire – December 1973

The former son of a cook presided over the collapse of his country’s economy and locked up dissidents. He was later found to have embezzled £12billion, and blamed for the deaths of 230,000 people.

Mobutu Sese Seko visited in 1973 and was later found to have embezzled £12billion, and blamed for the deaths of 230,000 people

Mobutu Sese Seko visited in 1973 and was later found to have embezzled £12billion, and blamed for the deaths of 230,000 people

 

 

Cameron crony Remoaner with an axe to grind: Former Foreign Office boss who dragged the Queen into the Trump visit row has form, writes ANDREW PIERCE

The fact is that when it comes to playing politics, Lord Ricketts – an ‘impartial’ civil servant – has form.

He was invited onto Radio Four’s Today programme during the build-up to the EU referendum last year and was a cheerleader for the Cameron government’s Project Fear scare-mongering. Most egregiously he backed its claim that Brexit would lead to the French moving the Jungle migrant camp (which no longer even exists) from Calais to Kent.

He was at it again yesterday, griping about Donald Trump’s invitation for a State Visit to the UK this summer.

Sir Peter Ricketts with the Queen on a visit to France when he was the British Ambassador in 2014, meeting Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France

Sir Peter Ricketts with the Queen on a visit to France when he was the British Ambassador in 2014, meeting Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France

But the nakedly political way that Ricketts – a career diplomat – speaks out causes irritation in Whitehall because it is protocol for mandarins such as him who have recently retired to keep their counsel on sensitive political issues.

But perhaps this was seen as pay-back time. For Cameron had appointed Ricketts as his national security adviser on his first day as Prime Minister in 2010.

When he quit No 10 last summer, Ricketts was among the list of Cameron cronies given gongs, knighthoods and peerages. Having been knighted in 2003, he was elevated to the peerage.

Born and brought up in the Midlands, Peter Forbes Ricketts went to a grammar school in Sutton Coldfield (motto: The right hand of God hath lifted me up) and then studied English at Pembroke College, Oxford.

A career civil servant, he was ambassador to Nato in Brussels and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee – giving evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war.

Actress Salma Hayek, President of the Arop Gala evening (L), and Sir Peter Ricketts, British Ambassador to France in 2012

Actress Salma Hayek, President of the Arop Gala evening (L), and Sir Peter Ricketts, British Ambassador to France in 2012

Although he said he believed that Iraq had ‘some level of weapons of mass destruction capacity, albeit one that was “hobbled”’, he said regime-change did ‘not stack up’, adding: ‘It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam.’

After two years as national security adviser under the Cameron government, Ricketts became British ambassador to France in 2012, and enjoyed the lifestyle afforded by the grandiose Paris residence, Hotel de Charost.

While belt-tightening meant that other ambassadors had to seek corporate sponsors for parties to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, Ricketts enjoyed the services of four in-house kitchen staff at a cost to taxpayers of almost £150,000 a year. This revelation followed a similar one a few years previously when he was permanent secretary at the Foreign Office and it had come to light that he claimed almost £20,000 in expenses in three months, which included £11,000 for a chauffeur-driven car. His salary at the time was £195,000, and he had a pension pot of more than £1.7million.

Unlike the classic Sir Humphrey-style civil servants and diplomats depicted in the sitcom Yes Minister, Ricketts does not have a reputation for bureaucratic caution.

In September, he was in hot water again when he became strategic adviser to aerospace giant Lockheed Martin which was negotiating billions of pounds in defence industry sales with the British Government, and which had featured in the first strategic defence review ordered by Cameron’s administration. Who led that review? None other than Ricketts. What an incestuous world!

There was more backscratching when Ricketts popped up last month to defend Sir Ivan Rogers against critics when he quit as ambassador to the EU after criticising the Government’s handling of Brexit.

In an article for The Guardian, Ricketts described them as being part of a ‘campaign of denigration’, which he likened to ‘the tabloid campaign against the judges’.

Ricketts added: ‘The new rule seems to be if someone is saying something inconvenient about the difficulties ahead, attack their integrity rather than deal with their argument.’

After his comments about the Trump visit to the UK, some may consider that Lord Ricketts is guilty of doing just that in his criticism of Theresa May for having invited the American president to Britain.

But then gone is the day when retired civil servants were seen, not heard.