'Student politics': Former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps slams government for suspending arms sales to Israel

2 September 2024, 19:00

Grant Shapps has branded the government's decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel amid fears the UK could be breaching international law a form of "student politics".

The former Defence Secretary told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr that the suspension was a "gut punch" and amounted to "punishing" Israel for being attacked by Hamas.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war in Gaza that followed the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas.

But Mr Shapps said the decision, announced by Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Monday afternoon, to suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel was "a very retrograde step".

"This is not some sort of student politics now, where you carry out student bans on different things, this is now geopolitics," he said.

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Grant Shapps reacts to David Lammy's partial arms ban on Israel

"This is about making sure that when a terrorist group attacks a democratic nation, the answer isn't to start punishing the democratic nation for that attack.

Mr Shapps said that the move "shows the student politics nature of David Lammy". He added that the suspension "will do nothing, because we sell almost nothing. 10% of almost nothing is nothing but gesture politics."

He said that to Israel "to will feel like a punch in the guts from an ally, and a friend."

But Simon McDonald, the former ambassador to Israel and the former top civil servant in the Foreign Office, told Andrew that the suspension was "a bit overdue."

The government does not supply arms to Israel directly, but does grant licenses to private companies to sell to Israel.

Last year British companies sold around £42 million worth of military equipment to Israel, a relatively small amount.

The arms export suspension will affect equipment like military aircraft, helicopters and drones.

Ministers have been under pressure to suspend arms exports to Israel for some time, with some protesters claiming that Britain is indirectly complicit in the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza.

Mr Lammy said the move was "not a blanket ban", nor "an arms embargo."

The Foreign Secretary told the Commons: "Facing a conflict such as this, it is this Government's legal duty to review export licences. Criteria 2C of the strategic export licensing criteria states that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law.

"It is with regret that I inform the House today the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

"I have informed (Jonathan Reynolds) the Business and Trade secretary, and he is therefore today announcing the suspension of around 30 from a total of approximately 350 to Israel, as required under the export controls act. These include equipment that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza."

Mr Lammy said that the suspension of some arms exports "not a determination of innocence or guilt".