Geoffrey Pattie
Sir Geoffrey Pattie is a former Conservative minister for defence procurement and a political lobbyist for the arms and security industries.
He co-founded Westminster-based consultancy Terrington Management in 1999. It represents various big-name defence clients, including BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin. Although Pattie's name remains on Terrington's website and its affiliated consultancy Tri-Polus, Companies House records show that he resigned as a director of both companies on 31 December 2015. Brigadier (Rtd) Jon Brittain was appointed a director of Terrington on 1 January 2016. [1]
Pattie was also previously president and a former chairman of British military propaganda firm Strategic Communication Laboratories,[2] and centre-right think-tank First Defence .[3]
He is on the advisory board of the University of Exeter's Strategy and Security Insitute, which is run by Lieutenant General (Retd) Professor Sir Paul Newton KBE. [4]
Contents
Career history
After graduating from Cambridge with Honours in Law, Sir Geoffrey entered the advertising business and became CEO of one of the UK’s leading agencies. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1974 and served for eight years in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s first two administrations – first as a defence minister and then as the technology minister. In these capacities, he had oversight of the government-sponsored defence and civil research programmes, and took a keen interest in promoting areas of advanced technology, especially in IT and space. [5]
In April 1990 Pattie was appointed vice-chairman of the Conservative Party with particular responsibility for liaising with other parties in Europe and emerging democracies in Eastern Europe. In May 1992, he was appointed vice-chairman (International) of the Conservative Party but continued his role as a non-executive director of the Fairey Group from 1987 to 1993.
Post politics positions
Pattie resigned from his seat in Parliament at the General Election in 1997. He continued chairmanship roles with Marconi Electronic Systems (held from June 1990) and the Intellectual Property Institute until 1999.
He joined GEC in 1997 as director of marketing until 1998 when he was appointed director of communications until 1999.[6]
In 1999 Pattie set up his own business, Terrington Management LLP. He is an Honorary Fellow of St. Catharine’s College Cambridge. [7]
Chairman of psyops firm 2005-2008
At the DSEI fair in 2005, a private UK political communications consultancy Strategic Communication Laboratories relaunched itself as a psychological warfare services ('psyops') operator. Chaired by Pattie, and 'with working capital of more than £11m [and] 20 full time staff, able to 'deploy 100-strong teams' the Guardian reported that SCL 'believes armies are prepared to buy such services from a private provider and maintains that psyops can shorten conflicts. Chief executive Nigel Oakes points to the surrender of nearly 90,000 troops in the first Gulf conflict, attributed to psyops. [Oakes] said: "We used to be in the business of mindbending for political purposes, but now we are in the business of saving lives."' [8]
Companies House records show that Pattie resigned as a director in 2008, but the SCL website continued to list him as President.
Affiliations
First Defence | Strategic Communication Laboratories | Terrington Management
References
- ↑ Terrington Management, Companies House
- ↑ People, Strategic Communication Laboratories' website, undated, accessed 24 Sept 2012
- ↑ First Defence 'First Defence - Board of Directors', Accessed 16 November 2010
- ↑ University of Exeter, People - Advisory Board, last accessed 21 March 2018
- ↑ Tri Polus 'Tri Polus - Management Board', accessed 16 November 2010.
- ↑ Strategic Communications Limited 'Board of Directors','Strategic Communications Limited - Board of Directors', Accessed 23 July 2007 and September 2012
- ↑ Tri Polus 'Tri Polus - Management Board', accessed 16 November 2010.
- ↑ Oliver Morgan Lobby firm goes to war, The Observer, 11 September 2005
