Iraq bodyguard bill soars
Updated on 22 September 2006
The cost of protecting officials in Iraq and Afghanistan is soaring.
A Channel 4 News online exclusive The cost of employing 'bodyguards' to protect officials in Iraq and Afghanistan has passed the £150 million mark, new figures reveal.
Click here for the full Foreign Office document.
The government payments - released after a Freedom of Information (FoI) by Channel 4 News online - show the huge increase in cost to the UK of trying to make sure rebuilding plans in both countries do not go off the rails.
The disclosure shows £150 million has been soaked up by four firms in just three years.
In Iraq, the amount the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has paid out for the services of these firms has risen from £19,121,598 in 2003/4; to £47,818,682 in 2005/6.
The most recent figures for Afghanistan show a rise from £2,085,000 in 2004/05; to £8,543,000 in 2005/6.
Labour MP Ian Gibson, who visited Iraq in 2003 prior to the start of the war, said: "It's an absolute disgrace that this area of expenditure is costing so much - it makes you wonder what the total cost of the war has been to the nation.
"It sounds as if the government looks upon this as a bottomless pit.
"I'm glad people's lives are being protected by these bodyguards but they should not be there in the first place.
'I'm glad people's lives are being protected by these bodyguards but they should not be there in the first place.'Ian Gibson MP
"Without a war this money could have been spent on schools or healthcare."
The work of private security companies abroad can vary from standard bodyguard exercises, to protecting convoys and advising on secure routes.
The four firms named by the Foreign Office are: Control Risks Group, ArmorGroup, Kroll Security Group and Edinburgh Risk Security Management (ERSM).
A spokeswoman for the Control Risks Group (CRG) said the firm's workforce in the two areas was about 500, although it fluctuated depending on demands.
She said: "Our main purpose is to ensure the safety of FCO personnel, we do a similar job for other corporate clients.
"The work is mainly based around Kabul and Baghdad; a lot of people are there just working on intelligence and where the best routes are for people to travel."
She said the majority of the CRG staff were from a military background.
Last month an inquest heard how Mark Carman, 38, a CRG bodyguard, was killed in 2004 after a bomb exploded under his 4X4.
A spokesman for the ArmorGroup, which saw its payments for providing police advisors jump from £3,700,172 in 2004/5 to £8,417,242 in 2005/6, said: "Security is a central component to the development of Iraq.
"Initially our guys would work with the police on the ground and help them understand what makes an effective force."
He said he thought the firm had around 100 staff working in Iraq, although it was only an estimate.
The ERSM said it had about 300 workers carrying out a broad range or work, while the Kroll Security Group said it could not comment.
A spokesman for the FCO said the security firms were mainly deployed around British offices in Baghdad, Basra and Kirkuk.
He said the rising annual costs were a reflection of risk and recruitment of staff, but that cheaper contracts had been agreed for 2006/7.
