BODYGUARD DOS AND DON’TS.

VIP bodyguard Will Geddes reveals the dos and don’ts of protecting the rich and famous

1 WALLET, WATCH, GLOCK …

In my 30 years as a bodyguard for rock stars, politicians, royal families and billionaires, I have never left my gun anywhere. I rarely leave a place without checking for it — just as you check your keys before leaving the house. I have even taped it to my hand before going to sleep. Everyone learns on Day 1, Minute 1, to never, ever lose their weapon. So it’s baffling that David Cameron’s bodyguard left his 9mm Glock 17 pistol in the loo on a British Airways flight from New York to London, alongside the former prime minister’s passport. (The bodyguard has since been fired.)

2 NOT TONIGHT, DEAR, I’M TIRED

Some blame fatigue — understandable, as 90 per cent of the job is mundane. This applied in my career, even though I’ve negotiated with al-qaida, Iraq and the Levant, and have flown around the world on jobs. Watch 2018’s Bodyguard and you might think close personal protection means tackling bomb-wielding maniacs and then sleeping with the person you are protecting. It’s generally not — though I have been solicited by one client, a Hollywood actress.

3 EXIT, STAGE LEFT

The real crux of the job is always having a safe route planned to ensure confrontation never occurs, and being able to divert away from shifty-looking characters instantly. This is what occupied much of my time when I was hired by a record label whose staff had been threatened with a firebomb and the murder of senior colleagues after they dropped a rap band.

4 THE TINGLE TELLS

Others will blame the Cameron plane debacle on carelessness: as Kevin Costner said in 1992’s The Bodyguard, if you remain protecting any one person for too long, “you become complacent.” So I frequently rotate my protection officers and myself. We talk about “spidey senses” — a glib name for the instinctive awareness developed over years of experience. And these senses should never stop tingling, no matter where you are.

5 SOCIAL MEDIA REALLY SMARTS

Remember when Kim Kardashian was tied up and robbed at gunpoint in her Paris apartment in 2018? She believes she was targeted after she posted her whereabouts and photos of her jewelry on Instagram. Her bodyguard is being sued by her insurance company for US$6 million for negligent protection.