Hearts & Minds: Defense industry narrative shifts on its Axis

For years, defence companies were shunned, regarded by a swathe of the population and the investment community to be avoided. They were on the wrong side of politics and more recently, the ESG divide.

That has changed. Defence manufacturers now top the market performer charts, enjoying a surge in popularity. Even so, for many they bear a residual taste. There is a comms narrative to be told, one that can change perceptions permanently.

To those who sneer and shun, say Sir Keir Starmer. There he is, a Labour Prime Minister, a former human rights lawyer, someone arguably to the left of Tony Blair, a person of conscience and principle. He’s elected on a ticket to correct, as his supporters see it, the wrongs of Tory rule. That entails heavy spending on health, education, social care, welfare. There’s no extra money to be had, so the emphasis is on cutting and taxing. That drags a lagging economy so a switch is made to growth.

Suddenly, it’s all about investing and building. Then, Donald Trump lands and the US reorders its foreign policy. European leaders are told that America will not write a blank cheque for their countries’ security anymore, they must step up and the fighting in Ukraine has to end. Starmer responds by saying defence is the ‘number one priority of this government’.

He said it, he really did. There can be no greater validation. Add to that, the uncertainty and fear that is gripping the world and the old, head-in-the-sand approach is no longer an option. Not only that, Britain and its neighbours have let their military capacity dwindle. It requires boosting and fast. In the UK, Starmer is finding the cash, so far from areas of the budget that met with the approval of those who scorned defence, from aid and development. This is public affirmation writ large.

Domestically, defence companies tick the economic boxes – they provide jobs and training, their workers are highly-skilled in all manner of disciplines, they’re heavily tech-based, their supply chains are long, extending to the smallest local and regional SMEs. Often, they’re in places blighted by post-industrial decline. This is an opportunity to rebuild, to help restore the lost industrial base.

For those who still harbour misgivings, the clincher should be the Roman writer Vegetius Renatus: ‘Si vis pacem, para bellum’. If you want peace, prepare for war.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.