RUTH SUNDERLAND: Allowing US vulture capitalists to colonise UK defence industry has been sheer folly

American private equity barons have extended their greedy tentacles into parts of British life where they have no business to be. They have swooped into elderly care, vets' practices, fostering and even children's homes.

The UK defence industry is another sector that has in recent years been colonised by American vulture capitalists and where their presence gives cause for disquiet.

A short-termist, profit-seeking, debt-heavy business model is as fundamentally unsuited to services for vulnerable children as it is to our defence industry.

Aerospace and defence are areas in which this country has a proud history and continues to excel. This prowess gives us status overseas. Unfortunately, private equity has been given a very free rein.

This newspaper has for several years objected to vulture capital takeovers, but we have been very much a minority voice. Politicians have waved deals through, sometimes with 'guarantees' that prove to be nothing of the sort. In recent years, a string of defence businesses have been sold off, in the face of warnings from prominent veterans and a few far-sighted political figures, such as Lord Heseltine.

Among those that have succumbed include Cobham, which pioneered technology allowing planes to refuel mid-air. It was sold off to US firm Advent International, which within 18 months had dismantled the business and sold bits of it off.

Proud history: Aerospace and defence are areas in which this country continues to excel

Ultra Electronics, responsible for sonobuoys that hunt enemy submarines, was also sold to Advent. Predictably, the process soon began of breaking up that business, starting with its forensic division to a Texas-based buyer. Admiral Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, warned the takeover could leave us at the mercy of Russia and that sonobuoys are likely to be vital to the 'survival of the nation'. The deal was given the green light, regardless.

Advent had already gobbled up former shipbuilder Laird, which built HMS Ark Royal, one of the UK's first purpose-built aircraft carriers. And another US buyer, Parker Hannifin, took over Meggitt – a maker of components for military jets.

The cynic in me wonders whether ministers saw private equity capital as a way of minimising increases in public spending on defence. If so, it was a Faustian bargain.

At the time, an uncritical assumption was made that, because the US is a friend and an ally, it is therefore acceptable to let American venture capitalists take control of large parts of our defence industry.

There seemed little consciousness that handing over some of our flagship defence companies would further imbalance the UK's relationship with the US, where we are very much the junior.

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Key defence technology, not to mention thousands of high-value jobs, were passing into the hands of a foreign power, but few seemed to care. Would such deals be waved through in such a sanguine fashion with an unpredictable Trump now in the White House, throwing overboard accepted beliefs about friend and foe?

One certainly hopes not. The early days of Trump's second term show how quickly events can move and how alliances that seemed unshakeable can shift.

Fortunately, we still have a world-beating defence businesses here. The government holds golden shares in BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce – the two biggest operators – and so are protected to a degree.

It is perhaps a minor point given the state of the world that private investors in both these businesses have benefited from the recent surge in share prices. Any profits from those that were sold off so foolishly will line the pockets of their American owners.