Geoff Hoon is to take up a full-time job with a helicopter company, just over a year after the former defence secretary told undercover reporters he looked forward to translating his “knowledge and contacts” into money.
Mr Hoon is joining AgustaWestland in an international role, aiming to sell helicopters around the world, although not in the UK or Italy, the company’s home markets.
He was suspended from the Labour party last year after being recorded by a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation seeking £3,000 a day for lobbying work, weeks before he was due to step down from parliament.
“I’ve got two children at university so I’ve got to get a job,” he told the undercover reporters, after saying that his experience as a minister would “open doors”.
“One of the challenges that I’m really looking forward to is translating my knowledge and contacts about the international scene into something that frankly makes money,” he added.
Mr Hoon later “unreservedly apologised” for the comments, but he is now apparently making good on his prediction, becoming executive senior vice-president of AgustaWestland’s international business.
His new job has been cleared by the committee that vets business appointments of former ministers, and company insiders say Mr Hoon did not sign off any of its contracts at the Ministry of Defence.
After leaving the government in June 2009 and standing down as an MP in April 2010, Mr Hoon helped to set up an independent consultancy, TaylorHoon Strategy. One of his clients was AgustaWestland, a global design, development and manufacturer of helicopters, with its international headquarters in Farnborough.
During a political career stretching over 18 years, Mr Hoon was chief whip, transport secretary and leader of the Commons.
He was perhaps best known, however, as Tony Blair’s defence secretary, where over six years he oversaw preparations for wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, developing a network of contacts in the defence world.
Mr Hoon joined forces with his former cabinet colleague Patricia Hewitt to mount an unsuccessful coup against Gordon Brown.
He said: “I am delighted to have been asked to join one of the world’s leading technology and manufacturing companies.
“AgustaWestland’s helicopters are acknowledged to be the most advanced of their kind. I am joining an established and successful team which is part of a great workforce around the world.”