Civil servants told to consider resignation over concerns about ‘UK complicity’ in Gaza - The Jewish Chronicle

A group of more than 300 civil servants were told to consider resigning after signing a letter expressing concern over what they called the UK’s “complicity” in the Gaza War, it has emerged.

The letter, sent to Foreign Secretary David Lammy last month, indicated unease among staff that the UK continued limited arms sales to Israel despite what they termed its “stark disregard” for international law.

Lammy announced last September that the UK would suspend 30 arms licences to Israel because the government had identified “a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

However, he emphasised that the decision did not reflect a judgement on whether or not Israel had breached international law and, in the following three months, £169 million in arms shipments were approved by the Foreign Office.

In their letter, dated May 16, the signatories said: “In July 2024, staff expressed concern about Israel's violations of international humanitarian law and potential UK government complicity. In the intervening period, the reality of Israel's disregard for international law has become more stark.”

They also claimed that “supported by the Trump administration, the Israeli government has made explicit plans for the forcible transfer of Gaza's population”.

Israel has denied that it is violating international law in its conduct of the Gaza War and insisted that any movement of the Strip’s population would be voluntary.

Around two weeks later, the signatories received a response from Sir Oliver Robbins and Nick Dyer, the two most senior civil servants in the department, reminding them of their duty implement government policy regardless of their personal view and emphasising that the government had “rigorously applied international law” in its approach to Israel.

They wrote: “The bargain at the heart of the British Civil Service is that we sign up to deliver the policies of the Government of the day wholeheartedly, within the limits imposed by the law and the Civil Service Code.

"If your disagreement with any aspect of government policy or action is profound your ultimate recourse is to resign from the Civil Service. This is an honourable course.”

However, the reply was reportedly met with “outrage” among civil servants, with one source telling BBC News: “[There is] frustration and a deep sense of disappointment that the space for challenge is being further shut down.”

Under the Civil Service Code, staff are required to be politically impartial and carry out their roles in implementing policy at the direction of ministers regardless of their personal views.

For some time, though, politicians have raised concerns that the service was becoming increasingly political and obstructive to certain policies.

Indeed, in March 2023, then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed an “activist blob of left wing lawyers, civil servants and the Labour Party” were resisting the Conservative government’s attempts to enforce immigration policy.

This was strongly denied by civil service unions, but a leaked Q&A in the wake of the comments saw at least one Home Office staff members say they were “finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile both our stated civil service values and my own personal ethical convictions with the rhetoric and policies the home secretary is pursuing,” according to The Guardian.

Topics: