Mark Smith says officials were told to manipulate findings of UK’s arms exports being misused [GETTY]
A former Foreign Office official has accused the United Kingdom of complicity in Israeli war crimes in Gaza through continued arms exports.
Writing for The Guardian, Mark Smith, the former lead officer on arms sales policy at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), said the UK’s system for controlling arms exports is broken.
“They stall, distort and obscure official processes to create a facade of legitimacy, while allowing the most egregious crimes against humanity to take place,” Smith wrote, saying ministers can manipulate legal frameworks to shield “friendly” nations from accountability.
“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.”
Smith also said he would be tactically summoned for verbal instruction to avoid creating a written record that could be discovered by freedom of information requests or legal scrutiny.
The former official says he witnessed senior officials being pressured by ministers to skew the legal assessment on whether there is a “clear risk” the weapons could be used to violate international law.
“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,” Smith said.
Smith said “significant edits” were made to his reports, shifting away focus from “credible evidence of war crimes to paint a misleading picture of ‘progress’ by foreign governments”.
He spoke of alleged manipulation of reports surrounding arms sales to Saudi Arabia during its military campaign in Yemen, accusing the UK government of being “fully aware” that Saudi airstrikes were killing high numbers of civilians.
In the case of Israel’s war, when raising concerns with the FCDO about the legal basis for arms exports to Israel, Smith was “met with hostility and stonewalling”.
“Emails went unanswered. I was warned not to put my concerns in writing,” Smith wrote.
“Officials are bullied into silence. Processes are manipulated to produce politically convenient outcomes. Whistleblowers are stonewalled, isolated and ignored.”
“And all the while, the UK government continues to arm regimes that commit atrocities, hiding behind legal loopholes and public relations spin.”
Despite trying to follow procedures to raise his concerns, Smith says he was met with delays, obfuscation and refusal to engage.
“It became clear that the system is not designed to hold itself accountable – it is designed to protect itself at all costs,” Smith wrote, adding that the UK’s complicity in war crimes cannot continue.
Smith was tasked with assessing whether the UK’s arms sales adhered to legal and ethical standards under domestic and international law. The official made headlines in 2024 after resigning from his position over the UK government’s refusal to halt arms sales as Israel waged war on Gaza.
The UK can halt foreign arms sales if there is a “clear risk” that weapons being used could violate international law.
Officials and activists called for the UK to suspend all arms sales to Israel amid its war on Gaza, which has killed over 60,000 Palestinians, including 14,000 still trapped under the rubble.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ)Â ruled that it is “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Britain suspended 30 of its 350 arms export licenses to Israel in September on the grounds that there was a risk the weapons might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.
