There has been plenty of coverage of former Nato secretary general George Robertson’s attack on the UK’s defence capabilities – but rather less curiosity about how the Labour peer makes his own dough when not plonked on the red benches.
The right wing press in particular delighted in the former defence secretary accusing “non-military experts in the Treasury” of “vandalism”, the Daily Mail taking out its front page with the headline “We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare bill” and declaring that Robertson had “lost all confidence in dithering PM”.
But few asked what Robertson did when not in the Lords – which appears quite a bit, since he has managed to speak in the chamber a grand total of twice in 2026.
According to the Lords’ Register of Interests, Robertson is a senior counsellor to the Cohen Group (TGC), a US-based consultancy which, according to its website, “assists aerospace and defense firms on policy, business development and transactions”. It adds: “TCG has assisted clients to compete for and win tens of billions of dollars in contracts, to enter new international markets, to build joint venture [sic] and other partnerships overseas, and to move up the supply chain.”
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Among the recent successes trumpeted on its site is that it has “assisted a US firm to secure $4 billion in sales of defense equipment to multiple countries in Central and South Europe” and to aid “a US aerospace firm to secure an $800 million aircraft sale to Korea”.
In addition, it has “identified and secured sales opportunities for a Dutch firm with GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] and Latin American militaries” and “assisted an Indian aircraft manufacturer in aircraft sales to US State and local government agencies”. Hoorah!
In his speech, Robertson said that, “We are underprepared. We are underinsured. We are under attack. We are not safe . . . Britain’s national security and safety is in peril”. He went on to warn that the country faced not just shortages of military kit, but “crises in logistics, engineering, cyber, ammunition, training and medical resources”.
Grim stuff indeed. Wonder if, if he had his arm twisted, he could think of any group, say, who may be able to assist in procuring such resources?
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