The story so far…In 2007 the Blair Government halted a Serious Fraud Office Inquiry into a £43bn BAE Systems arms deal with Saudi Arabia, citing ‘national security’ as the reason for the inquiry to be cancelled.
But in April this year the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) and the Cornerhouse won a High Court ruling which cited that the Government’s decision to cancel the inquiry was unlawful.
The Government immediately demanded the right to appeal and this week got this ruling over-turned.
The upshot of this, of course, is that the truth about the corrupt business practices of BAE and its links with the bribe-happy Saudis will never be fully uncovered, but apparently if you’re a multi-billion pound industry with friends in high places you are above inconvenient things like the law that the rest of us have to adhere to…
But that’s not the end of the story…
Because the Government has now introduced the Constitutional Renewal Bill, part of which would ensure that parliament or the courts can no longer question decisions based on ‘national security’.
So not only will we know never know just how corrupt this deal was but any future such arms deals will now be protected from scrutiny because all those involved have to do is cite ‘national security’ and, hey presto, any sensitive or potentially embarrassing information is magically off limits.
The fact that the elite protects itself is nothing new but the fact its mechanisms of protection grow ever stronger and are becoming more blatant is quite shocking. If this happened in some tinpot African dictatorship liberal England would shake its head in disgust.
But it’s happening here and I find that deeply sad for our democracy and a little frightening too…
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