It was an unlikely hurrah for democracy. But in February this year, British Prime Minister David Cameron, plump and rosy of cheek, set out on a four-day tour to promote democracy in the Middle East – with representatives of eight arms manufacturers bringing up the rear.

First stop was Egypt, where, with his shady companions in tow, he became the first world leader to congratulate the populace for chasing off President Hosni Mubarak. There arose a mighty chorus of condemnation at this blatant arms peddling, especially as at about the same time in Libya, Colonel Qadafi was being a real pain by using arms he had acquired from Western nations like Britain against his own democratically inclined people. The British government hastily revoked arms export licences to Libya. Ouch.

Cameron puffed up his cheeks and blustered about the good old-fashioned democratic values he was intent on nurturing – while also meeting Cairo’s military top brass. Of course, continued military domination of Egyptian politics would probably be the worst thing for democracy in that country. But there’s democracy and there’s democracy…

Continuing his tour of a region ruled mainly by despots, Cameron leant on the crutch of Britain’s ‘defence’ of Kuwait to justify why selling them arms was such a good idea. Wonder why he didn’t use the example of Saudi Arabia, ruled by one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world and the biggest buyer of British weapons, with contracts worth $480 million in 2010 alone?1 Only a few weeks later, armoured vehicles manufactured and sold by BAE Systems (Britain’s largest arms manufacturer) would roll from Saudi Arabia to give Bahrain a helping hand in a little local bother, quelling democracy protests. Did someone say Bahrain? Why, Britain had only the previous year approved export licences to Bahrain for tear gas and crowd control ammunition, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles and submachine guns. Who would have imagined they would be used against people?2

The tail and the dog

One thing Cameron’s tour did illustrate was the oh-so-cosy relationship between arms manufacturers and politicians. ‘Defence’ is a favourite mantra of politicians – ‘arming to the teeth’ doesn’t have quite the same ring. Despite the fact that arms manufacturing in most Western nations ultimately represents vast fortunes of public funds flowing into private coffers for products that deal in injury or death, the industry is usually represented as a source of national pride. Military top brass and ministries of defence vie to feed it (and ultimately feed off it when they go through the revolving door on to industry careers). The corridors of power are infiltrated by lobbyists for the arms industry. So pervasive is its influence that when it comes to matters of spending on arms, the tail often wags the dog, with the requirements of the industry being put before effective strategy.

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