STARMERITE grifter Paul Mason’s loyalty to the arms industry has paid off with his appointment as an associate fellow of the Council on Geostrategy.

The council is funded by the Defence Ministry and the arms industry, which Mason has promoted tirelessly in recent years.

The posting is a reward for the journalist, whose political journey has taken him from Trotskyism via a brief flirtation with Corbynism to devoted support for the present government and Nato and its wars.

He sought selection as a Labour candidate in at least five different constituencies before last year’s general election but was unsuccessful in all. He presently advocates enormous increases in military spending up to 5 per cent of GDP.

Mr Mason commented about his appointment: “As we face rising threats from the Putin-Xi-Kamenei axis of failure, I’m proud to bring a distinct Bevanite focus to independent thinking on UK national defence.”