Breaking the Influence of Special Interests in the UK

The Democratic contest in the US has brought the influence of special interests into the national spotlight. Most commonly, Barack Obama will reference the oil and drug companies strangle hold on US national politics. However, special interests are certainly not an issue unique to American politics.

In the UK, the case in question involves a corruption inquiry into a case between the Saudi Arabia and UK's British Aerospace Engineering Systems, BEA. Under suspicions that BEA had paid off the Saudi government in order to secure the arms bid, Britian's Serious Fraud Office, SFO, launched an investigation into the deal. However, shortly there after, the case was dropped when the Saudi government threatened to discontinue sharing intelligence information with the British government.

BBC World reports:

On Thursday judges said the decision to halt the inquiry represented an "abject surrender" to pressure from a foreign government.

Lord Justice Moses said that the SFO and the government had given into "blatant threats" that Saudi co-operation in the fight against terror would end unless the probe into corruption was halted.

Mr Clegg has written to the prime minister, saying the inquiry should be re-opened and a "full inquiry" be carried out into how it came to be dropped in the first place.

He also says Gordon Brown has backtracked on plans to reform the role of the attorney general in the draft Constitutional Renewal Bill and urges a rethink.

And he asks the prime minister to update Parliament on the progress of other anti-corruption investigations involving Britain - including a separate US probe into BAE.

"How can Britain stand up to corruption and bribery abroad if we are not spotless at home?," he said.

The SFO said national security would have been undermined by the inquiry and SFO director Robert Wardle has said he took the decision to drop it independently and did not coming under any political pressure.

Former Foreign Office minister Dennis MacShane told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the ruling appeared to undermine Parliament.

He called for a debate on "whether the government of the day can take decisions in what it perceives to be the national interest".

And the debate ought to be an interesting one. With the lack of Arabic speaking (not to mention Arabic-looking) British operatives in the region, there is no doubt that the Saudi's provide much needed intelligence to the UK government. However, for the UK to cancel a serious corruption inquiry at the mere mention of the Suadi's denying intelligence information speaks volumes to the Saudi influence over domestic politics (and the US-Saudi relationship is no different).

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has received much criticism for his decision to terminate the corruption probe. Per Al Jazeera News:

Critics have attacked Tony Blair, Britain's former prime minister, for saying it was right to halt the investigation, which he said would have damaged Britain's national security if it went ahead.

In the earlier ruling high court judges said the fraud authorities and the government had caved in to threats made by Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former ambassador to the US and now head of Saudi Arabia's National Security Council, that Saudi Arabia would drop a multibillion pound contract for Typhoon Eurofighter jets.

A $40bn deal for 72 Typhoons was signed in September.

The House of Lord's appeal is now expected to be heard towards the end of this year though no date has yet been fixed.

[UPDATED 12:05 pm ET] UK-Saudi Arms Deals Timeline courtesy of BBC World:

• 1985: Britain signs deal to sell 72 Tornados and Hawk jets to Saudis
• May 2004: Guardian reports MOD police are investigating £60m payments made during deal
• Nov 2004: BAE confirms it is being investigated by SFO, but denies wrongdoing
• 1 Dec 2006: French firm Dassault in talks to sell the Rafale, a rival to Eurofighter, to Saudi Arabia.
• 14 Dec 2006: MPs told SFO probe has been stopped
• 17 Jan 2007: OECD anti-bribery group has "serious concerns" about the decision
• June 2007: BAE says it is being investigated by US justice department
• April 2008: High Court rules the SFO acted unlawfully