UK leaders hold more meetings with BAE Systems than any other company, report says

Between 2012 and 2023, weapons company BAE Systems had more meetings with British prime ministers than any other private company, according to new research from a UK-based anti-arms campaign group and a US-based foundation.

A new report, published this month by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and World Peace Foundation (WPF), details the arms industry’s close relationship with the government, arguing that “the lines between the two have been virtually erased".

The report points to an “unparalleled level of access for the arms industry to the top levels of government".

Sam Perlo-Freeman, CAAT's research coordinator, who authored the report, said: "It is not like any other industry.

"It is seen as an absolutely crucial strategic asset by the government for enabling the UK to have the weapons from its own designs to project power around the world," he said at a launch for the report earlier this month.

Lobbying in Britain is significantly different to lobbying in the US, with political contributions by arms companies or donors linked to the arms industry remaining “extremely rare”.

Instead, major arms companies enjoy almost unceasing contact with senior members of government. 

Between November 2009 and October 2019, for example, 6,006 meetings were held between government and industry, equivalent to 1.64 meetings every day. 

'The arms industry isn’t influencing from outside. It is influencing from inside'

– Sam Perlo-Freeman, author of the report

BAE Systems, the country’s largest arms manufacturer, is at the top of the list, having secured around one meeting every three days - 1,238 in total over the period. Rolls-Royce secured 321 meetings, Leonardo 313 and Lockheed Martin 283. 

This is despite BAE Systems ranking only 15th on the FTSE index by market capitalisation.

A BAE Systems spokesperson said: “As the UK’s largest defence company, employing more than 45,000 people in the UK with thousands more in the supply chain, we regularly engage with UK Government representatives to increase awareness and understanding of the significant contribution our industry makes to the UK’s security and prosperity.”

The trend has been a consistent feature regardless of the party in power, Perlo-Freeman argues.

"Successive governments, Labour and Tory, have chosen to pull the arms industry into an ever-closer embrace as a way of promoting these strategic interests," he said.

"The arms industry isn’t influencing from outside. It is influencing from inside. It is constantly round the table, having its views heard."

‘Significant degree of influence’

The arms industry’s access to the government greatly exceeds its relative importance to Britain’s economy, the report finds.

While arguments are often made about the jobs that the industry brings, Perlo-Freeman said those employed in it only represent around one-third of one percent of total employment in the UK. 

"So again, the arms industry does not have influence because it is so big, or because it is such a crucial employer," he said, while acknowledging that in certain areas in the country, it is the main employer. 

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"Generally speaking, it is not the foundation of the UK economy. It is not even the foundation of UK manufacturing industry," he said. "It’s because of its strategic role."

Strikingly, it is not the Ministry of Defence which has the most meetings with arms companies among government departments. In fact, the MoD is only 16th on that list.

Between 2013 and 2023, arms companies met regularly with ministers from the Departments for International Trade, Business and Trade, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Middle East Eye revealed in 2019 that Britain’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, met with representatives of BAE Systems to discuss its response to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, specifically concerning the company’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, within weeks of the crime.

The report from CAAT and WPF further pointed to a “revolving door” of government ministers, senior civil servants and senior military officers taking up positions in the arms industry. 

Over 40 percent of top-ranked military officers and civilian MOD personnel took roles in the arms and security industry upon leaving public service, including as employees, board members and independent consultants to the industry, with a clear majority working in procurement.

But the report concludes that, while the revolving door "almost certainly plays a significant role" in strengthening the industry's influence, an open-plan office is a more apt metaphor.

"Industry has become so deeply embedded in government that it is almost a part of the state itself," it says.

'It is hard to imagine that such constant, privileged access does not afford the industry a very significant degree of influence'

 - Campaign Against Arms Trade and World Peace Foundation

This comes after the recently elected Labour government announced in early September that it was suspending 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel, excluding F-35 fighter jet parts sent to third countries that could end up in Israel. 

Foreign Secretary David Lammy told parliament that suspending the components “would undermine the global F-35 supply chain that is vital for security of the UK, our allies and Nato”.

That same week, Danish news outlet Information revealed that the Israeli military used an F-35 stealth fighter in a July attack that killed at least 90 people in a designated safe zone in Gaza. 

Perlo-Freeman likened the government's decision to "a bit like saying you are going vegetarian except for bacon".

Two groups challenging Britain’s arms exports to Israel in the High Court, the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) and Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, have threatened fresh legal action over the F-35 exemption.