Committees on Arms Export Controls: Unauthorised Disclosures of Draft Report on Use of UK- Manufactured Arms in Yemen

House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Committees on Arms Export Controls: unauthorised disclosures of draft Report on Use of UK- manufactured arms in Yemen Seventh Special Report of Session 2016–17 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 10 January 2017 HC 935 Published on 18 January 2017 by authority of the House of Commons The Foreign Affairs Committee The Foreign Affairs Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its associated public bodies. Current membership Crispin Blunt MP (Conservative, Reigate) (Chair) Mr John Baron MP (Conservative, Basildon and Billericay) Ann Clwyd MP (Labour, Cynon Valley) Mike Gapes MP (Labour (Co-op), Ilford South) Stephen Gethins MP (Scottish National Party, North East Fife) Mr Mark Hendrick MP (Labour (Co-op), Preston) Adam Holloway MP (Conservative, Gravesham) Daniel Kawczynski MP (Conservative, Shrewsbury and Atcham) Ian Murray MP (Labour, Edinburgh South) Andrew Rosindell MP (Conservative, Romford) Nadhim Zahawi MP (Conservative, Stratford-on-Avon) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication Committee reports are published on the Committee’s website at www.parliament.uk/facom and in print by Order of the House. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Chris Stanton (Clerk), Nick Beech (Second Clerk), Dr Ariella Huff (Senior Committee Specialist), Ashlee Godwin and Nicholas Wade (Committee Specialists), Clare Genis (Senior Committee Assistant), James Hockaday and Su Panchanathan (Committee Assistants), and Estelle Currie (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Foreign Affairs Committee, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6105; the Committee’s email address is [email protected]. CAEC: unauthorised disclosures of draft Report on Use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen 1 Contents Introduction: CAEC and its inquiry into the use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen 3 Committees on Arms Export Controls 3 Inquiry into the use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen 3 Unauthorised disclosures 4 Circumstances of the original unauthorised disclosure 4 Leak inquiry by Committees 4 Further leaks 5 Two separate Reports agreed 6 Liaison Committee consideration 6 Conclusion 7 Formal Minutes 8 CAEC: unauthorised disclosures of draft Report on Use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen 3 Introduction: CAEC and its inquiry into the use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen Committees on Arms Export Controls 1. The Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC), rather than being a Committee of the House, has consisted of four Select Committees meeting and working together under the terms of Standing Order No. 137A: • Business, Innovation and Skills Committee1 • Defence Committee • Foreign Affairs Committee • International Development Committee. CAEC has been chaired in this Parliament by Chris White MP, a Member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. 2. The Committees have worked together since 1999 to examine the Government’s expenditure, administration and policy on strategic exports, that is, the licensing of arms exports and other controlled goods. Any Member of the four Committees has been able to attend meetings of CAEC, though in practice a smaller group of Members of the Committees has been nominated to receive papers. Since its inception, CAEC has worked principally by undertaking a single inquiry each year which typically examined exports over the preceding year and developments in export policy. Inquiry into the use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen 3. On 10 March 2016 CAEC announced an inquiry into the use of UK-manufactured arms in the conflict in Yemen. The Committees said that they would look at the size of arms sales to the Gulf region and the role the trade played in advancing UK interests there. They also intended to examine whether weapons manufactured in the UK had been used by the Royal Saudi Armed Forces in Yemen, whether any arms export licence criteria had been infringed, and what action should be taken in any such cases. CAEC took both oral and written evidence during their inquiry. 1 On 17 October 2016 this was renamed the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee to reflect changes in the machinery of Government. The membership remained the same. 4 CAEC: unauthorised disclosures of draft Report on Use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen Unauthorised disclosures Circumstances of the original unauthorised disclosure 4. An initial Chair’s draft Report on theUse of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen was circulated to the Members nominated to receive CAEC papers on Thursday 7 July. The draft Report was circulated electronically, with password protection, in line with usual practice. However CAEC was not able to meet in July with a quorum to consider this draft. 5. A revised draft Report, substantively the same as the one circulated in July, was circulated to CAEC Members on Thursday 1 September 2016, in advance of consideration of the Report at a private meeting on 7 September. Again, the draft Report was circulated electronically with password protection. The deadline for proposed amendments was 12 noon on Tuesday 6 September. An amendment paper was circulated electronically to CAEC members at 4.15pm that day. 6. On 5 September The Guardian published a story about CAEC’s planned meeting on 7 September, saying that it would “see a cross-party push for the UK to suspend its multibillion-pound arms sales to Saudi Arabia”.2 7. On the evening of Tuesday 6 September, the BBC’s Newsnight programme covered the Committees’ inquiry at some length. Substantial and accurate extracts from the draft Report were read out, and a journalist appeared to have a copy of the text of the Report. Leak inquiry by Committees 8. On 7 September, in response to the Newsnight story, the Chair of CAEC instructed the Clerk to write to all Members who had received a copy of the draft Report, asking (a) whether they or any staff had spoken to any journalist about the content of the Report, and if so, who, and (b) whether Members of staff had provided a copy of the Report, or extracts from it, to any journalist or unauthorised party. The letter was sent by email at 12.40pm with a deadline for response of 6pm that day. 9. Responses were received from all Members by the deadline. All said that they were not the source of the leak. 10. Two Members volunteered information about contacts that they had had with the media: • Douglas Chapman MP replied that nothing had been leaked from his office, adding that “I did a very guarded TV interview with RT but made it clear, while I had my own views, it was up to the Committee to reach its own conclusions with regard to the report. The interview is on my Facebook page.” • Stephen Doughty MP responded as follows: “I can confirm that the answers to your questions are a) no and b) no regarding my staff and myself. 2 See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/05/mps-to-urge-ban-on-uk-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia CAEC: unauthorised disclosures of draft Report on Use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen 5 For absolute transparency, I have spoken to journalists from the Guardian, BBC World Service (and since the leak BBC Newsnight) about my views on the issues around Saudi Arabia and Yemen—primarily in relation to the UQ and other public stories this week/visit of the Saudi FM—and provided an *on the record* quote to the Guardian—related to the government response to the UQ on Monday—see https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ sep/06/saudi-arabia-makes-plea-for-britain-not-to-ban-arms-sales. However—I specifically refused to comment on the content of the draft report—and in fact emphasised the parliamentary rules—and certainly have not shared it with anyone.” [Emphasis in original text.] 11. The Clerk of CAEC also wrote on 7 September to the Clerks of relevant Committees to ask if they or their staff had spoken to a journalist about the report or had provided a copy to a journalist. All responses were in the negative. Further leaks 12. The Committees met at 6pm on Wednesday 7 September to consider and agree the Report. The leak was also discussed, and the Committees agreed that the leak represented substantial interference with the inquiry. Consequently, the Committees agreed to refer the matter to the Liaison Committee for its view, in line with the procedure laid down by the House. 13. At this meeting, the four constituent Committees of CAEC did not agree the Chair’s draft Report. Instead, Members from the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee (as it was then) and the International Development Committee agreed a joint report on the Use of UK-manufactured arms in Yemen for subsequent consideration by those two Committees. 14. On 7 September BBC Newsnight again covered the inquiry and appeared to have a copy of the amendment list that had been circulated on 6 September. Again, substantial and accurate extracts from the amendment list were read out. On 8 September Newsnight covered the inquiry for a third time. The Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Crispin Blunt MP, was interviewed on this programme. The story was presented on Newsnight in a way that appeared to be designed to impugn the motives of certain Members. 15. On 8 September The Guardian published two stories covering the inquiry. These included references to the proceedings of the private meeting on 7 September, and reference to, and substantial quotations from, both the amendment paper and the original draft Report.3 16.

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