Security fears as top Cabinet Office official quits to work for UAE
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The Government’s executive director of communications, who has been involved in sensitive discussions on national security, is to take a job at the United Arab Emirates’s foreign ministry.
Alex Aiken, who in recent years has sat in on security meetings including Cobra, will move to the country to advise Abu Dhabi on communications.
Despite the defection being made public on Wednesday, Mr Aiken intends to remain in his position in the Cabinet Office until April.
Conservative MPs questioned if that was appropriate, noting that even in the private sector employees have to step back after announcing joining a rival company.
The UK Government’s ties with the UAE have come under scrutiny in recent months as ministers decide whether to approve an Abu Dhabi-backed takeover of The Telegraph.
RedBird IMI, a US-based group that is 75 per cent funded by the UAE, is attempting to take control of The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator magazine.
MPs from across the political divide have sounded the alarm, with some warning that effective UAE ownership of a British newspaper would undermine free speech and democracy.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said on Wednesday night that Mr Aiken would stand down from any work perceived to be a conflict of interest.
However, it is not clear whether Mr Aiken is required to take a break before starting the UAE role.
The development emerged on the same day that Mr Aiken’s wife, the Conservative Party deputy chairman Nickie Aiken, announced that she would stand down at the next general election.
Mrs Aiken, the Tory MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, said her husband had “accepted a job offer overseas” and “deserves my full support as he pursues a new career”.
Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, has ordered investigations from the media regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into the proposed takeover of The Telegraph.
The Cabinet Office, the department where Mr Aiken is based, also has the power to intervene on national security grounds, though has not done so yet.
A Cabinet Office insider insisted that Mr Aiken had not been involved in any discussions about the proposed Telegraph takeover.
Higher salaries in Middle East
Mr Aiken is paid between £145,000 and £149,999, according to transparency data released last July. The Telegraph understands senior communications jobs in some Middle Eastern nations have recently been touted at four times that. Mr Aiken’s new salary or start date is not known.
He has been in political communications for much of his working life, having been director of communications and strategy at Westminster council between 2000 and 2012.
Since then he has held a variety of roles in government, including a role which oversaw communication strategy in the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office.
When departing government ministers and the most senior civil servants get new jobs, they must consult a body called the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments [Acoba].
But given Mr Aiken’s position below the top rung of the Civil Service, his case was handled within the Cabinet Office, whose permanent secretary, Alex Chisholm, is understood to have given approval.
Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, who is the decision-maker on any Telegraph national security intervention, was not involved in the process, according to a Cabinet Office source.
The idea that Mr Aiken will remain at the heart of government for weeks after announcing he will join the UAE led to concerns being raised by some Conservative MPs.
Neil O’Brien, a former Tory government minister, said: “Alex is very highly regarded. Yet many people will be extremely surprised that you can take a job working for a foreign government but still work for our government. We need much clearer rules.”
Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said: “I wish him and Nickie the best of good fortune. But I do think this demonstrates it’s high time for there to be much greater clarity over what ministers and civil servants can do once they leave their jobs in government.
“It is customary in the private sector that when someone announces they are taking another job in a similar space that they would leave pending their start in the new role. When it comes to foreign governments, surely that should very much be the case?”
Announcing her decision to stand down, Mrs Aiken said in a statement on Wednesday: “This is not a decision I have taken lightly. My husband, Alex, who has supported me steadfastly through my political career, has accepted a job offer overseas and he deserves my full support as he pursues a new career.”
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “Alex Aiken will leave the Civil Service in April to take up a new role as a communications adviser to the ministry of foreign affairs in the United Arab Emirates. He has worked in the Cabinet Office for the last decade, serving as executive director, government communication.
“His new role has been vetted through the Cabinet Office business appointment rules process. He will abide by the standard conditions governing senior ivil service external appointments.
“The process for appointing his successor will be announced in due course.”
