Alan West
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This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch. |
Admiral Alan William John West, Lord West of Spithead (born 21 April 1948) is a British Labour Party life peer. He joined the House of Lords in July 2007. He is a former First Sea Lord (the head of the British navy).
West was parliamentary under-secretary of state, security and counter-terrorism, at the UK Home Office from 2007 until May 2010. He also headed the National Security Forum at the Cabinet Office from 2007-10.
West has a background in military intelligence. He has sat on the Lords National Security Strategy Joint Committee since 2014. [1]
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West was previously chairman of arms firm QinetiQ until 2007. He currently lists his paid business interests as chairman of Spearfish Maritime Security Limited and non-executive director of MCM Solutions.[2]
Background
West was born on 21 April 1948. He was educated at Windsor Grammar School and Clydebank High School. He joined the navy aged 17, and during his career served on 14 different ships, commanding three of them. Since the Falklands, he has played a key strategic role in virtually all of Britain's major conflicts and naval manoeuvres. [3]
From 1989 to 1992, West ran naval intelligence for the Ministry of Defence and co-ordinated operations during the first Gulf War. He was chief of Defence Intelligence and deputy chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee from 1997-2001. The period under his leadership covered the strikes against Iraq, the conflict in Kosovo and operations in Sierra Leone.[4]
West was a member of the defence advisory board of the controversially privatised defence and security technology company QinetiQ from 2006–07. [5]
Parliamentary Activities
- Member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Armed Forces
- Member of the House of Lords Defence Group [6]
- Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Security and Counter-terrorism to the Home Office from 2007 to 2010 [7]
Revolving door
- Chairman of the advisory board of QinetiQ from 2006 to 2007. The prime minister's Advisory Committee on Business Appointments approved the role under the terms that, "In view of the time that has elapsed since he left post of First Sea Lord, approved subject to the condition that, for 12 months from his last day in post, he should not be personally involved in lobbying the MOD in connection with any current contracts or existing or new bids for work".[8][9]
- Henry Jackson Society, member of the advisory council (political council), [10]
- Member of the International Business Advisory Board of HSBC from September 2010 to September 2011 [11]. ACOBA saw "no reason why he should not accept the appointment forthwith, subject to the condition that, for 12 months from his last day in office, he should not become personally involved in lobbying UK Government Ministers or Crown servants, including Special Advisers, on behalf of his new employer."[12]
- Chairman, Spearfish Maritime Security Limited[13] [14]
- Non-executive Director, MCM Solutions (extraction and management of data from digital and non-digital sources) [15]
- Chancellor, Southampton Solent University 2006-[16]
Contact
- Address: House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
- Tel: 020 7219 5353
- Email: westaa@parliament.uk
References
- ↑ Lord West of Spithead, www.parliament.uk, accessed 5 November 2014
- ↑ [Lords' Register of Interests], gov.uk, accessed 15 September 2017
- ↑ Profile: Alan West, BBC News Online, 8 July 2007
- ↑ Profile: Alan West, BBC News Online, 8 July 2007.
- ↑ ‘WEST OF SPITHEAD’, Who's Who 2008, A & C Black, 2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007
- ↑ [1] UK Parliament Biographies, Lord West of Spithead, accessed 08 September 2016.
- ↑ [2] Wiki OpenRights Group, Lord West of Spithead, Accessed September 8 2016.
- ↑ The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments Ninth Report 2006-2008 Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, accessed 4 November 2014
- ↑ Lord Alan West The Edge, accessed 5 November 2014
- ↑ Political Council members, Henry Jackson Society], accessed 5 November 2014.
- ↑ [3] Wiki OpenRights Group, Lord West of Spithead, Accessed September 8 2016.
- ↑ Twelfth Report 2010-2011 Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, accessed 8 December 2014
- ↑ since 2012 Lord West of Spithead Parliament.uk, accessed 5 November 2014
- ↑ [4] Wiki OpenRights Group, Lord West of Spithead, Accessed September 8 2016.
- ↑ [5] UK Parliament Biographies, Lord West of Spithead, accessed 08 September 2016.
- ↑ [6] UK Parliament Biographies, Lord West of Spithead, accessed 08 September 2016.
