Lord Hesketh quits Babcock over aircraft carrier rant

8th Nov 2010 16:01

Lord Hesketh has resigned as deputy chairman at Babcock International after claiming the two new aircraft carriers his company is building for the Royal Navy will make Britain "a laughing stock".His 17-year career at Babcock - 14 as deputy chairman - was brought to a swift end following an interview with the Daily Telegraph in which he branded the carrier programme a "disaster".In last month's defence review, the government said one of the ships being built at Babcock's Rosyth shipyard will only operate for three years and will never carry a plane, while the other won't carry any aircraft until 2020.He told the newspaper that Britain could afford to run both carriers were it not for the "vested interest" of the prime contractor BAE Systems."We are paying twice as much as we should to get half the capability," the peer said. Also a chairman of the Conservative Foundation, Lord Hesketh said the £5.2bn project was a "Loony Tunes" operation that was "about to turn into a classic British disaster". Babcock chairman Mike Turner kept his announcement short and sweet: "Lord Hesketh has been a long-standing and valued member of the Babcock bBoard, and over this period has made a significant contribution to the development of the group. We thank him for his contribution and wish him well," he said.