By Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 4 February 2021 New research finds that dozens of senior UK defence, foreign office and intelligence officials find employment with oil, gas and mining corporations once they leave public office, rubber-stamped by a Whitehall committee which pays little attention to potential conflicts of interest. Such private profiting from energy companies […]
Topic: Africa
“The time has arrived when we should consciously guide this greatly expanded Commonwealth towards fulfilling a definite purpose, and perhaps a great destiny, in contemporary and future human affairs”. The Commonwealth’s composition could give it a powerful influence “in resolving widely the inter-racial problems” of the next couple of generations. “It is true that at […]
Cover note states: this “considers the future of the gap between the developed and the developing countries and its implications for British policies”. Paper. It is unlikely that a general coordinated North/South struggle will take place but “countries or organisations in the South might succeed in disrupting ordered life in the developed world and in […]
Cover note: this paper analyses the “disadvantages under which we operate in Africa due to our inability, in contrast to the Communist powers, to supply arms on concessionary terms” and the “lack of enthusiasm” in this by the Treasury, Overseas Development Ministry and ECGD. Paper. “With rare exceptions, British policy in Africa has been to […]
Documents FCO, Planning Staff draft paper, “British objectives and priorities in Africa South of the Sahara, 1976-80”, November 1975 (click here) FCO, East African Department paper, ‘Africa: Arms Supply Policy’, October 1975 (click here) FCO paper, PC (70)12, ‘North V. South’, December 1970 (click here) Malcolm Macdonald, High Commissioner, Lusaka, to Commonwealth Office, February 1967 […]
“Traditionally, from the days of trade in slaves and ivory, Africa has supplied natural products to Europe and received finished goods in exchange”. New UK investment in Sub-Saharan Africa was £148.1m or 9.1% of all overseas investment in 1973 – of that, 5.4% was to South Africa. Total stock of UK investment in SSA in […]
“It has been agreed by the Chiefs of Staff that the role of the colonial territories in general terms should be: (a) to provide for their own internal security, first to release the forces of the strategic reserve during the present cold war from debilitating diversions and, secondly, to ensure the stability of the colonies […]
In February 1974 the Permanent Under Secretary’s Planning Committee of the Foreign Office approved papers for the incoming Labour government, consisting of 42 departmental papers plus an overview of “Britain in an altered world: The outlook for Foreign Policy”. A key aspect of these papers was to argue against the new government implementing its manifesto […]
By Mark Curtis Published in the Huffington Post, 6 December 2016 A picture is emerging of likely British trade and aid policies towards developing countries after Brexit. That picture is just as disturbing as two other likely consequences of Brexit that I detailed in my previous article – a deepening of relations with authoritarian regimes […]
Report written by Mark Curtis for Global Justice Now. To read the PDF version go here. November 2016 Since the EU referendum on 23 June, many people have theorised on what the consequences for British foreign policy might be. Some have stressed the dangers, others the opportunities. Nearly six months on, a picture is gradually […]