UK had ‘significant conversations’ with Washington ahead of Israel arms shift
Downing Street said timing of David Lammy's statement in the Commons was driven by the review process
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
The UK government held significant conversations with Washington and other international allies ahead of Monday’s announcement over the suspension of some arms licenses to Israel, Downing Street has confirmed.
The timing of the announcement, made by David Lammy in the Commons on the same day of the Jerusalem funeral of a Gaza hostage took place, was driven by the review process, No.10 added, and being a legal matter was made on the first day back for parliament after the summer recess.
The government’s spokesperson refused to disclose exactly when the legal advice was received, in a process started before Christmas under the previous Conservative government, and continued after Labour came to power in July.
Jewish News understands there were discussions with American government officials on Sunday, after the UK made it known it had reached a decision to suspend 30 out of a total of 350 arms licenses to Israel.
A Foreign Office source disputed claims that the Biden government felt let down by Britain’s new stance on arms licenses.
While a Labour source told Jewish News there could even have been encouragement for the UK to take their position from Washington in order to heap further pressure on the Israeli government.
The UK prides itself on having some of the most robust export licensing criteria in the world, Downing Street added.
“We’ve had significant engagement with both the US and Israel and other international allies ahead of this announcement before taking this decision,” No.10 said.
“As the Foreign Secretary made very clear in the House yesterday, we’re not taking this decision lightly.
“But we must take our duty to apply export licensing law seriously. We remain a staunch ally of Israel, committed to their security, and to threats from Iran.
“We had significant engagement with the US, Israel and other international allies before taking this decision.”
Asked about Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that the UK had made a “shameful” decision, the No. 10 spokesperson said “We remain a staunch ally of Israel.”
But they added:”Our ambition is to see the end to this devastating conflict, and we are working extensively with partners on progress towards a ceasefire deal for both sides.”
Downing Street rejected criticism from groups such as Amnesty International, who said the suspension of arms licensing didn’t go far enough, and should have included the UK contribution to the F35 fighter jet programme, adding this would be logistically impossible.
“We review all export licenses on a case by case basis against the strategic licensing export criteria,” said the spokesperson.
“When it comes to the F 35 it’s an aircraft that has operations globally ….it would not be possible to suspend the licensing of F 35 components without prejudicing the entire global F 35 programme which plays an important strategic role in NATO and our support for Ukraine.”
Suspending Britain’s input would cause the entire programme to be halted and risk security at a time of global uncertainty .
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