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The British government lobbied for an arms agreement with Libya on behalf of aerospace company BAE Systems while Tony Blair was prime minister, newly released documents have shown.
The Cabinet Office files reveal a letter from BAE chair Sir Richard Evans in 2004, asking Blair’s chief of staff Jonathan Powell to open discussions with Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi.
The cited discussion points included “some form of [memorandum of understanding] to cover both civil and military projects for the future”.
The then prime minister passed on BAE requests to the Libyan government as part of discussions between the two nations, according to an exchange of letters released by the Cabinet Office.
The exchange demonstrates the closeness of the relationship between Blair and the Libyan leader. The UK was instrumental in lobbying for sanctions on Gaddafi’s Libya to be lifted, after assurances the country had wound down a programme to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Evans’ letter, dated March 22, 2004, noted BAE had been engaging with Libya for three years “pending the resumption of normal relations”, with a £65mn contract for “some emergency works”, including air traffic and communications, on the table.
The communication came ahead of Blair’s landmark March 25 visit to Libya, in which he met Gaddafi after years of strained relations following the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
The terrorist attack on a passenger aircraft over Scotland caused 270 deaths, for which the former Libyan leader accepted responsibility in 2003.
In response to the letter, Powell wrote that the prime minister had “raised your interest” with Gaddafi and, having spoken with the Libyan foreign minister, “everything was being sorted on the Libyan side”.
Powell added that the visit had been a success and “should help create the conditions” for wider BAE Systems investment in Libya over time.
The BAE chair said “the leader had regularly asked about defence products” but that BAE had “side-stepped” such requests “pending authority to supply”.
The EU introduced an arms embargo with Libya in 1986 in retaliation for what they saw as Libyan support for terrorist groups.
The embargo was lifted on October 11, 2004, following intense lobbying from states including Britain and Italy.
The agreement was, in part, due to Libya abandoning its decades-old weapons of mass destruction programme, which Gaddafi had bolstered by purchasing material through black market sources.
Then foreign secretary Jack Straw welcomed the move as “a very good day . . . for peace and security across the world”, although questions remained over the true scale of Libya’s weapons arsenal.
After the embargo was lifted, MBDA, a defence company in which BAE Systems had a 37.5 per cent stake, was awarded a £199mn contract from Libya for anti-tank missiles plus a related communications system in 2007.
Blair’s relations with Gaddafi were later the subject of scrutiny after he was forced to defend attempting to evacuate the embattled leader from Libya during the country’s civil war in 2011.
The former prime minister confirmed he had “two or three” phone calls with Gaddafi with the aim of removing the leader from Libya so “a peaceful transition could take place”.
Gaddafi was eventually deposed and killed by rebel groups who aimed to topple his regime as part of the Arab spring in 2011.
BAE Systems said: “We comply fully with all relevant export control laws and regulations and rigorously uphold our responsible trading principles, only exporting when we have authorisation to do so.
“All export licence applications are thoroughly assessed by the relevant governments and if granted, are subject to ongoing review.”
It added that it did not discuss sales to government customers due to commercial confidentiality and national security considerations.
The Cabinet Office and Blair declined to comment.
