WikiLeaks cables: Spanish PM helped GE beat Rolls-Royce to helicopter deal Ambassador's comments show commercial interests won out over Britain's 'special relationship' with Washington Andrew Clark, business editor guardian.co.uk, Saturday 4 December 2010 Rolls-Royce lost a lucrative contract to supply helicopter engines to the Spanish military because of a personal intervention by Spain's prime minister, José Luis Zapatero, following vigorous lobbying from US diplomats, according to a secret cable from the US embassy in Madrid. Eduardo Aguirre, the departing US ambassador to Spain, recounts behind-the-scenes diplomatic machinations that helped General Electric snatch a deal away from Rolls-Royce to provide engines...