Britain’s covert war in Yemen

Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 5 October 2022 The UK’s current war in Yemen is not the first time Britain has contributed to devastating the country. Sixty years ago, a coup in North Yemen prompted UK officials to begin a secret war that also led to tens of thousands of deaths – and, as now, no […]

Revealed: UK troops ‘secretly operating in Yemen’

By Naser Shaker, Mark Curtis and Phil Miller, Declassified UK, 6 July 2021 Britain has a secret detachment of up to 30 troops in Yemen, where they are training Saudi forces amid the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe, Declassified has discovered. The British personnel are said to be based at Al-Ghaydah airport in Mahra province of […]

Charles of Arabia: How Britain’s next king bolsters autocratic Gulf regimes

By Phil Miller and Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 24 February 2021 The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, has held 95 meetings with eight repressive monarchies in the Middle East since the ‘Arab Spring’ protests of 2011 threatened their power. Charles has played a key role in promoting £14.5-billion worth of UK arms exports […]

Revealed: Dozens of UK former senior officials profit from fossil fuel corporations, rubber-stamped by Whitehall committee

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 […]

More than two dozen Saudi Typhoon pilots trained in Britain

By Phil Miller and Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 7 October 2020 Britain’s Royal Air Force has trained 25 pilots from Saudi Arabia how to fly the powerful Typhoon jet and continues to provide instruction on using missiles involved in devastating attacks on civilians in Yemen. The Royal Air Force (RAF) has taught 25 Saudi Typhoon jet pilots […]

British training of Saudi pilots continues amid bombing of Yemen

Phil Miller, Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 23 September 2020 UK defence minister admits that training of Saudi Typhoon pilots is continuing despite Riyadh using these British-made jets to conduct airstrikes in Yemen, a country on the brink of famine. Up to nine Saudi pilots currently training in UK Most recent Saudi aircrew […]

For Sama’a: as Britain resumed arms sales to Saudi Arabia, a deadly airstrike in Yemen

By Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 20 July 2020 Eyewitnesses in Yemen tell Declassified UK’s reporter on the ground about the aftermath of an airstrike that killed a young girl and her grandmother. “At first we suddenly heard an explosion. We saw a light that filled the store and the neighbourhood. We thought […]

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 is misinforming the public about Britain’s role in the world

by Mark Curtis Declassified UK, 9 March 2020 Britain’s national press consistently portrays Britain as a supporter of noble objectives such as human rights and democracy. The extraordinary extent to which the public is being misinformed about the UK’s foreign and military policies is revealed in new statistical research by Declassified UK. The research suggests […]

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 […]