British government ministers have been complicit in millions of deaths since 1945, so don’t be surprised that they won’t face justice over coronavirus

By Mark Curtis Declassified UK, 2 May 2020 The UK government’s failure to provide protective equipment to all health staff treating coronavirus victims prompts questions whether ministers are legally culpable for failing to prevent deaths. But UK ministers routinely act with impunity and every prime minister since 1945 has been complicit in deaths abroad. At […]

How the UK press supports the British military and intelligence establishment

by Mark Curtis Declassified UK, 11 March 2020 Britain’s national press is acting largely as a platform for the views of the UK military and intelligence establishment, new statistical research by Declassified UK shows.  The UK press, from The Times to The Guardian, is also routinely helping to demonise states identified by the British government as enemies, while tending to […]

Explainer: Is the UK a rogue state? 17 British policies violating domestic or international law

by Mark Curtis Declassified UK, 7 February 2020 UK governments routinely claim to uphold national and international law. But the reality of British policies is quite different, especially when it comes to foreign policy and so-called “national security”. This explainer summarises 17 long-running government policies which violate UK domestic or international law. British foreign secretary […]

Julian Assange should be thanked – not smeared – for Wikileaks’ service to journalism

by Mark Curtis Published in Middle East Eye, 21 October 2018 Twelve years ago this month, WikiLeaks began publishing government secrets that the world public might otherwise never have known. What it has revealed about state duplicity, human rights abuses and corruption goes beyond anything published in the world’s “mainstream” media. On 14 October Ecuador partly restored […]

When it comes to Middle East policy, the UK is nothing but a rogue state

Published in Middle East Eye, 6 April 2018 by Mark Curtis In the current crisis with Moscow, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has written that “Russia cannot break international rules with impunity”. Britain, along with Russia, has a particular obligation to uphold international law since it is one of the five permanent members of the […]

Chagos Islands: Declassified

Documents J.Jackson, FCO Defence Department, to J.Cable, Planning Staff, 19 February 1974 (click here) MoD, Permanent Under Secretaries Committee, Minutes of a meeting on 7 January 1974 (click here) ‘US embassy cables: Foreign Office does not regret evicting Chagos islanders’ (US Embassy, UK, 15 May 2009) Articles Mark Curtis, ‘The depopulation of the Chagos Islands, […]

Diego Garcia – Removing People from History

This is an edited extract from Web of Deceit: Britain’s Real Role in the World by Mark Curtis   “The object of the exercise was to get some rocks which will remain ours”(Foreign Office, 1966) November 3rd 2000 should be known as a landmark day in the history of this country’s foreign policy. On that […]

The depopulation of the Chagos Islands, 1965-73

The depopulation of the Chagos Islands, 1965-73 By Mark Curtis An edited extract from Web of Deceit: Britain’s Real Role in the World “The object of the exercise was to get some rocks which will remain ours” (Foreign Office, 1966) During the decolonisation process in the 1960s Britain created a new colony – the British […]

No Place Called Home: Diego Garcia

by Mark Curtis Guardian, 10 October 2003 There are people and there are unpeople. Afghan and Iraqi victims of Blair’s wars count among the latter – lives which are expendable in the pursuit of Western power. Yet there is a group of unpeople who have been even more forgotten and their desperate plight was yesterday […]

Web of Deceit

Britain’s Real Role in the World. In his explosive new book, Mark Curtis reveals a new picture of Britain’s role in the world since 1945 and in the “war against terrorism” by offering a comprehensive critique of the Blair government’s foreign policy. Curtis argues that Britain is an “outlaw state”, often a violator of international […]