Former UK defence secretary Michael Fallon has taken a new £75,000-a-year job advising “one of the most active investors in Saudi Arabia”, BuzzFeed News can reveal.



The senior Conservative declared in the new register of MPs’ interests that he will be paid £6,300 for eight hours of work at Investcorp each month, or £788 an hour.

The announcement came as some MPs found themselves under the spotlight for their links to Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Fallon’s new firm, Investcorp, is a Bahrain-listed asset manager that says it has a “unique placement capability in the Gulf”.

It boasts on its website that it is “one of the largest managers of private equity investments in Saudi Arabia”, with an office of 15 staff in Riyadh. It also has offices in Abu Dhabi, Doha, Singapore, London, and New York.

Two representatives from Investcorp, including its CEO Hazem Ben-Gacem, are listed as speakers at the “Davos in the desert” Future Investment Initiative, which begins in Riyadh on Tuesday.

UK international trade secretary Liam Fox has pulled out of the conference after deciding “the time is not right for him to attend” in light of the Khashoggi murder.

Mohammed Alardhi, the chair of the advisory board on which Fallon sits, has spoken of Investcorp’s “deep roots” in Saudi Arabia and repeatedly praised the country’s crisis-hit crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Alardhi is quoted on Investcorp’s website: “Saudi Arabia’s National Transformation Plan, spearheaded by His Royal Highness Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has set in motion wheels of change, making this a hugely exciting period in the history of the Kingdom. Investcorp has always had deep roots in Saudi Arabia.”

He added: “Investcorp has been one of the most active investors in Saudi Arabia in the last 10 years … We have big ambitions in Saudi and we have aligned our business plans with the Saudi economic National Transformation Plan.”

In an interview with CNBC, Alardhi lauded bin Salman’s economic reforms. “I think if the crown prince only achieves 50% of his vision, that country is going to be fantastically changed,” he said.