RUTHFULLY YOURS

The powerful UK network of woke, unelected civil servants and officials known as ‘the Blob’ has become notorious for trying to subvert democracy at home, defying the previous Tory government on everything from Brexit to immigration policy.

Now the Blob is spreading its anti-democratic tentacles internationally, pressing its allies in the Labour government to abandon Israel, which is fighting against Islamist terrorists for its survival as the only democracy in the Middle East. The Blob is so blinded by its loathing of Western-style democracy that it seems prepared, effectively, to declare war on Israel.

A UK Foreign Office official has just made news headlines by resigning over British arms sales to Israel. Mark Smith, who worked in counter-terrorism at the British Embassy in Dublin, reportedly sent an email to top civil servants and government advisers declaring it was his ‘duty as a public servant’ to protest against alleged Foreign Office complicity in Israeli ‘war crimes’ in Gaza.

‘Each day we witness clear and unquestionable examples of war crimes and breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza perpetrated by the state of Israel’, he wrote. Smith said he had told ministers and officials to stop British arms sales, but they had refused to follow his advice, so he had to resign.

The political arrogance of this obscure embassy official, in demanding that the elected UK government must do as a supposed ‘public servant’ says, is matched by the wilful ignorance of his view on the war in Gaza. The one ‘clear and unquestionable’ fact that should be evident through the fog of war is that Israel is fighting an existential battle against the genocidal, Jew-hating death cult of Hamas, which has vowed to repeat the pogrom of 7 October ‘again and again’ if it gets the chance.

A ban on UK arms sales might not make much material difference to the war effort. But it would signal a further Western retreat from defending Israel (already evident in the US and the EU), and leave the world’s only Jewish state even more isolated internationally.

Smith’s decision to flounce out of the Foreign Office and take his civil-service pension with him might make him look like a lone protester. In truth, the Blob has been working to stop Britain aiding Israel since the war began – and the Labour government appears to be taking its orders.

The UK government does not sell arms to Israel directly, but does issue licences to private companies that export military equipment. In April, civil servants in the Department for Business and Trade overseeing arms exports to Israel demanded they be allowed to ‘cease work immediately’. The officials and their trade union claimed they were facing ‘legal jeopardy’ and could be held ‘complicit’ in Israeli war crimes under international law.

Then, in May, there were reports of a ‘revolt in the Foreign Office’, with up to 300 staff formally protesting to Tory ministers about ‘Britain’s ongoing complicity and support for Israel’s “plausible genocide”’, and ‘seeking a change of course’.

What is even less ‘plausible’ than the idea that Israel might be committing genocide in Gaza is the notion that British civil servants could one day be hauled before a war-crimes tribunal for working on legal papers. These officials have been hiding behind the non-existent threat of being prosecuted under international law as an excuse for trying to rewrite UK national law.

The Blob wants to force the elected government to complete a ‘change of course’, with civil servants at the helm. And Keir Starmer’s Labour government appears even less willing or able to resist than the Tories were.

After the July General Election, new Labour foreign secretary David Lammy assured the House of Commons that, on his very first day in office, he had started a ‘process’ to review UK arms sales to Israel and assess their legality. The process has yet to conclude, but the likely outcome might be judged by Lammy’s clear pro-Palestinian attitude. On his recent photo opportunity – sorry, peace mission – in the Middle East, he went so far as to remove his token yellow ribbon badge, expressing support for the Israeli hostages in Gaza, before meeting the Iranian backers of Hamas and Hezbollah.

In any case, the Blob is not even bothering to wait for the outcome of the Labour government’s review. Civil servants have already decided to stop issuing licences for arms exports to Israel. Earlier this month, it was reported that defence companies applying for an export licence now receive a blunt reply stating that this process has been ‘suspended pending policy review’.

The Labour government insists that there has been no change of policy. But what does that matter, when the Blob has taken the apparently unilateral decision to ‘change course’ and force Britain to abandon Israel?

The future of Israel’s war against Hamas is in the balance, as outgoing US president Joe Biden presses the Israelis to accept a ceasefire – effectively to surrender – in time to boost Kamala Harris’s election campaign. Those who run the UK civil service appear to be doing their best to tip the balance further away from the Israelis.

In this, they are of course being supported by the other arms of the Blob, the amorphous, multi-tentacled, left-liberal / woke establishment that dominates powerful British institutions today, from the Whitehall government machine and the top courts to the BBC, academia, human-rights law firms and a host of vocal pro-Palestinian – that is, anti-Israeli – charities and UN bodies.

In a remarkable sign of how far things have gone in the UK, a Scottish National Party member of the Scottish parliament has been suspended by his party for expressing allegedly offensive opinions that were not in line with SNP values.

What terrible things did John Mason MSP from Glasgow say? He tweeted that there was ‘no genocide’ in Gaza. And when questioned by the BBC, Mason dared to stand by his statement. He insisted that, ‘When we look at other examples of genocide, historically, it’s nothing like what’s happening in Gaza. And if Israel wanted to commit genocide, you know, sadly, they could have killed an awful lot more people.’ Mason added that Israel, as well as Jews in Scotland, are feeling ‘very much under threat’.

Clearly there is no place for such sensible and honest opinions in the Scottish parliament. And certainly not in the corridors of UK power in Whitehall.

Mick Hume is a spiked columnist. The concise and abridged edition of his book, Trigger Warning: Is the Fear of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech?, is published by William Collins.