Emerging Middle East Democracies - Profits Come First

David Cameron is facing criticism for including defence industry representatives in the trade delegation on his tour of the Middle East, amid concerns that British-made equipment could be used to suppress the current wave of popular unrest. The Foreign Office has already revoked a series of export licences for Libya and Bahrain in the wake of the government crackdowns on protesters in those countries. Speaking at the Civitas think tank in London, Liam Fox said that such issues should be dealt with on a "case-by-case" basis, depending on how events developed in the countries concerned. "We have to recognise that countries have a right of self-defence and not all of them have a defence industry so they will always buy externally," he said. "I want to make sure the United Kingdom - within the limits that we set ourselves ethically on defence exports - is getting a healthy slice of that."There are a great deal of unknowns still out there and we will have to look at things on a case-by-case basis."

The phrase ‘a healthy slice’ is revealing here. It smacks of course of the shareholders and directors of arms firms getting Fox’s preference over the democracy and freedom seeking peoples of the crumbling middle eastern dictatorships. Simple, basic Toryism in other words. It provides a good gauge by which to measure the value of the words of William Hague, Fox and Cameron himself about supporting ‘the emerging democracies’