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Former UK defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace has joined an investment firm that focuses on military technology ventures, becoming the latest Conservative ex-minister to seek a new career in the business world.
Wallace, who as defence secretary from 2019 to 2023 led the UK’s response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said he would become a partner in the London-based investment team of Boka Group, an American-British firm.
The 54-year-old said he could bring a “dose of reality” to investing, specifically his knowledge of the battlefield and the relevant technology, and an understanding of government “demand signals” around the world.
“This is not about lobbying the government for defence contracts,” he told the Financial Times. “It is about picking companies that will be in demand by somebody in the defence sector.”
He added: “Sadly, I know what works. I know the trends that are coming out of Ukraine.”
John James, co-founder and managing partner at Boka Group, stressed Wallace’s “understanding of the defence sector and the geopolitical landscape”.
Founded in 2022, Boka specialises in “growth-stage” investments that it says “fortify national security and enhance sovereign resilience”, particularly among allied nations in Nato and the trilateral Aukus defence pact between the UK, US and Australia.
It has seven investments in aerospace and defence companies, according to its website, including in companies specialising in satellite terminals, artificial intelligence software and imaging services. British-based Adarga, a developer of AI-driven software that is chaired by the City veteran Sir Donald Brydon, is among its investments.
The firm’s operating partners include a former executive with the CIA and a former lieutenant-general in the British Army.
Lord Hugo Swire, a former Tory foreign office minister, is chair of Boka’s investment committee.
Wallace joins a growing list of former Conservative MPs moving to the private sector following the party’s crushing defeat to Labour in the UK general election, in which it lost 251 seats and was left with just 121 MPs.
Other former Tory politicians have taken roles at PR firms, insurance start-ups and private care providers. Last week the former Tory cabinet minister Michael Gove was appointed editor of the Spectator magazine.
Wallace resigned from government in August last year and stood down from parliament rather than seek re-election after almost 20 years as an MP.
A former captain with the Scots Guards, he was first elected in 2005 and had previously worked at Qinetiq, the listed UK defence specialist.
Wallace said Boka’s existing investments would be consolidated into one fund, focused on defence and security technology. Current funds under management total $170mn.
He said he hoped to help grow Boka’s funds under management to about $250mn by next summer, with ambitions of “up to and beyond $500mn”, though he was candid about his lack of experience as a financier: “I don’t pretend to be a banker and I am not trying to be.”
He said concerns among investors over the defence sector’s environmental, social and governance credentials had left a gap in specialist expertise, in particular in the City of London.
Defence executives have previously warned that overcautious or misapplied ESG considerations have affected the sector’s ability to attract investment, especially among smaller companies.
One consequence of ESG over the past few years, said Wallace, was that we had “lost a lot of tech to America”.
“It would really be a shame if we surrender that market to a very few people when we have some great innovation that needs the funding,” he added.
Wallace said he would start his new role this week having secured approval from the Whitehall appointments watchdog Acoba.
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