'Passed over' King is crowned as BAE promotes from within

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The departure of BAE chief executive Mike Turner was announced last October after a boardroom bust-up with chairman Dick Olver following Turner's demand to stay at the helm past his 60th birthday retirement date.

Because BAE had not immediately announced that Turner's No.2, King, would be the successor, it was assumed he had been passed over and that Britain's largest defence company would be looking outside and possibly even to the American arms industry for a new boss.

Today, however, Olver insisted King was his man.

"I am excited and very pleased to announce the appointment of Ian who has had a long and distinguished career in the industry and who is a highly experienced business leader with a proven track record in performance management," said Olver.

Asked how many potential chief executives BAE had interviewed before alighting upon King, Olver said: "We talked to a very large number of people but Ian is absolutely our first choice."

King comes from the Marconi side of the 1999 merger with British Aerospace.

He joined Marconi as a graduate entrant in 1976 and then spent two years qualifying as an accountant before becoming finance director at the company's defence systems and then in its electronics systems businesses.

After the BAE merger he became group strategy and planning director but only joined the BAE main board 18 months ago.