Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Conservative foreign secretary, has been made chairman of ArmorGroup, the biggest private security company operating in Iraq.

Six weeks ago, he was selected as parliamentary candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Kensington and Chelsea and said: "My first priority is actually to work hard in Kensington and Chelsea — I am not even going to be an MP until the next general election so I have got time to do that, to get to know the local community."