Britain’s system of arms control ‘broken’

February 2025

Allegations by an ex diplomat that officials were instructed to manipulate findings of misuse of weapons by allies will not come as shock to readers of this site. We have frequently questioned the oft repeated statement from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that ‘Britain’s export licensing controls are some of the most robust in the world’ as palpable nonsense. We have regularly featured items published by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, CAAT.

In this case, featured on the front page of today’s Guardian newspaper (10 February), the ex-diplomat claims that officials are ‘bullied into silence’. Processes are manipulated to produce politically convenient outcomes. The article suggests that probably the most significant of his allegations was that officials had demanded the toning down of evidence that UK arms had been used to commit war crimes. This would appear to be a clear example of manipulation of what was intended to be an objective exercise. One tactic was to say they are ‘waiting for more evidence’ as cover for inaction. The FCDO office denies these allegations.

Palestinians returning to north Gaza have been shocked to see almost total devastation of their homes, communities, medical facilities and much else. What greets them are piles of rubble where once they lived their lives. The bombing of civilian targets using dumb bombs and the killing of thousands of non-combatants including many women and children, is clear evidence of a war crime. Israelis have been able to do this with weapons such as the F-35 parts of which are manufactured in the UK. Yet the UK government refuses to ban these exports.

The ‘revolving door’ enables corruption to continue

As we have argued before, the UK is in a kind of trap when it comes to these sales. Arms exports are one of the few areas where we do well from an economic perspective. Many jobs depend on these sales and a proper regime of controls would hit the industry. Arms firms employ many lobbyists to promote themselves. CAAT have spoken of the ‘revolving door‘ whereby senior staff from the civil service, the military and government retire and emerge as consultants or directors of these firms. Such senior staff have a clear incentive therefore, to sing the industry’s songs so as not to destroy the opportunity for lucrative employment post retirement. It is as close to corruption as you can get. We must not forget however, the end result of this corruption and manipulating processes as alleged, is the death, destruction, maiming and general mayhem as the weapons are used to destructive effect.

Apart from Gaza, another area where Britain turned a blind eye and pretended not to know was Yemen. We continued arming Saudi and provided support and advice stopping just short of arming the planes thus avoiding claims of being mercenaries.

Listening to ministers opine about peace ring hollow when its own staff are allegedly manipulating evidence to enable arms sales to continue.