Lord Hain, former Secretary of State for Wales, has a new role as advisor to an investment company that is supporting the precision engineering sector.

He joins former head of the Army General Sir Peter Wall on the advisory board of Cyrus Investment Management (www.cyrusim.com). The latter has already raised £25 million from investors — making use of the Enterprise Investment Scheme — to acquire four precision engineering firms.

Managing partner Peter Schwabach said: “As an active investor in British engineering, with a focus on strategic businesses in the aerospace, defence and security industries, we are very pleased to welcome two such distinguished figures to our advisory board.

"Lord Hain and Sir Peter bring to Cyrus a wealth of knowledge and relationships that will benefit our investee companies and our investment strategy.”