http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article4305215.ece

More than 11,000 British jobs were under threat last night after the Pentagon tore up the world’s biggest defence contract to allow an American company to rebid.

Airbus stands to lose an 18 billion contract to build tankers for the US Air Force, awarded only four months ago, after aggressive lobbying by US politicians, including the presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.

Unions reacted with fury. John Wall, general secretary of the Confederation of Ship Building and Engineering Unions, which represents the Airbus workers, said: “Airbus beat Boeing in every single major feature in this competition and I don’t see that changing, but what has changed is the political pressure to buy American.