UK Government ministers and officials have systematically skewed legal advice, edited documents, and covered up evidence of civilian harm in order to continue providing arms to countries such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, a former Foreign Office official has alleged.
Writing in The Guardian, former Foreign Office second secretary Mark Smith – who resigned his position in August 2024 over concerns about complicity with war crimes in Palestine – made a series of explosive allegations about UK Government ministers and high-level officials.
He wrote: “The UK’s legal framework is clear: arms sales must cease if there is a ‘clear risk’ that weapons could be used to commit serious violations of international law. Civil servants are bound by a strict code of impartiality, requiring us to produce neutral, evidence-based advice. Any attempt to alter or manipulate this advice for political convenience is not just unethical – it is unlawful.
“However, during my tenure, I witnessed senior officials under intense pressure from ministers to skew the legal assessment. Reports were repeatedly returned to me with instructions to ‘rebalance’ the findings – to downplay evidence of civilian harm and emphasise diplomatic efforts, regardless of the facts. I was often summoned for verbal instructions – a tactic deliberately employed to avoid creating a written record that could be subject to freedom of information requests or legal scrutiny.
“In one instance, a senior official bluntly told me, ‘This looks really bad,’ before urging me to ‘Make it look less stark.’ My protests were ignored. Significant edits were made to my reports, shifting the focus away from credible evidence of war crimes to paint a misleading picture of ‘progress’ by foreign governments. This was not an isolated case – it was part of a systemic effort to suppress inconvenient truths.”
Smith alleged that he had attended one meeting during which senior Foreign Office officials admitted that the UK Government’s threshold for weapons exports had been passed in the case of Saudi Arabia. However, no exports were blocked as ministers were instead advised to look at delaying tactics.
“This ‘wait for more evidence’ approach created a loophole, allowing arms sales to continue while the government feigned compliance,” Smith wrote.
He said that while the Saudi Arabia case had been “alarming, what I witnessed regarding UK arms sales to Israel was even more concerning”.
He went on: “Israel’s repeated bombardments of Gaza have killed thousands of civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure, actions that are clearly incompatible with international law. Yet the UK Government continued to justify arms sales to Israel, relying on the same flawed processes and evasive tactics.”
Smith said he had raised his concerns with the highest levels of Government – including Foreign Secretary David Lammy – and met nothing but “delays, obfuscation and outright refusal to engage”.
Alleging that the UK is complicit in war crimes due to its actions on arms exports, Smith said it should not be allowed for “ministers to trade human lives for political expediency”.
The news comes after the UN special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories called for UK ministers to be investigated over their complicity with crimes committed by Israel.
The Labour Government suspended some 30 out of 350 arms exports to Israel in September 2024 amid concerns that they would be used to commit war crimes in Gaza.
However, Labour have continued to refuse to block parts for F-35 fighter jets, despite confirmation that Israel has used the planes to bomb refugees in Gaza.
Before taking power, now-Foreign Secretary Lammy had urged the Tory government to publish its legal advice on weapons exports to Israel. However, Lammy’s Labour Government has also refused to publish that advice.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Labour have continued normal diplomatic relations with his government and continued sending the majority of military exports.
Asked for a response to Smith's allegations, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “These allegations are a misrepresentation of this government. Our export license controls are some of the most robust in the world and are strictly guided by legal advice.
“As soon as the Foreign Secretary took office, he ordered a review into Israel’s compliance with International Humanitarian Law and on September 2, we suspended export licences to Israel for use in military operations in the Gaza conflict.
“We are considering the implications of the ceasefire in Gaza for our assessments of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law and will keep our export licensing position under review.”
