Foreign secretary David Lammy is planning for staff from arms manufacturer BAE systems and fossil fuel company Shell to join the government. He is now facing legal action from solicitors at Leigh Day on behalf of charity The Corner House with the allegation of “improper influence”.

David Lammy creating “serious conflicts of interest”

David Lammy’s scheme would not only bring in corporate staff to government. It would also embed Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) workers within those companies. Leigh Day has written a legal letter that claims the plan could be illegal and in breach of government code.

Founder and director of The Corner House, Nicholas Hildyard, said:

This scheme cries out for judicial scrutiny. Seconding employees from powerful corporations to the Foreign Office or other ministries and vice versa is a recipe for potential serious conflicts of interest. Both Shell and BAE Systems have been accused of human rights violations in the past. This alone places them on a collision course with the government’s stated commitment to upholding human rights and international law.

Foreign policy impact

The Labour government’s commitment to international law appears to only be verbal. The Corner House has asked whether BAE staff will be involved in issues related to “potential or actual genocide in Palestine” and the “licensing of arms exports”. The government already licenses arms to Israel despite the its horrific war crimes.

Further, The Corner House asked the government to

confirm whether embedded BAE Systems staff will be involved directly or indirectly in advising, commenting, deciding on law and/or policy relating to trade and/or foreign affairs (including humanitarian affairs)

A letter obtained through a freedom of information request reveals Lammy views his duty to be serving UK big business worldwide. He wrote that ambassadors around the world had been tasked with helping

our companies in landing contracts, overcoming market access barriers, and winning investment internationally

Climate change impact

In the same letter, David Lammy wrote:

I believe that the FCDO and Shell have a strong shared endeavour in trying to interpret and navigate the fast-evolving geopolitical context

Inviting Shell to join the government flies in the face of Labour’s supposed commitment to transition to renewables. Instead, the Keir Starmer government should surely deliver a Green New Deal, which Starmer pledged to do as a Labour leadership candidate. This would bring about cheaper renewable energy, do Britain’s part to tackle climate catastrophe and remove profit from our energy system in one fell swoop.

The corporate capture of the public sector is a facet of neoliberalism. But having arms and fossil fuel giants literally join the government takes the biscuit.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

This post was originally published on Canary.