His comments came in response to a report from the National Audit Office into the sell-off of the defence and security systems company.

"The highly geared share incentives introduced by the Carlyle Group in 2003 provided rich pickings for a few, at minimal personal risk, on the back of the innovation of the hard working scientists and engineers that have made QinetiQ such a successful company. This is the unacceptable face of privatisation.

"It was by no means fair shares for all and it is this fundamental point that has done so much damage to the public perception of the privatisation. It was the Carlyle Group, rather than individual directors, that was responsible for the unequal allocation of shares with full ministerial acquiescence.

"While lessons should be learnt to inform any future privatisations, we must not let this detract from the fact that QinetiQ has a world-class workforce and is well placed to grow its core business of defence and security technology."