Deception in High Places: A History of Bribery in Britain's Arms Trade

by Nicholas Gilby

Deception in High Places reveals the corruption endemic in Britain's biggest arms deals over the last fifty years.

Based on painstaking research in government archives, collections of private and court papers and documents won by the author in a landmark Freedom of Information Tribunal against the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the book illuminates a shadow world of bribery and elite enrichment.

Deception in High Places charts British government involvement in arms trade corruption and presents the fullest history yet of bribery in Britain's arms deals with Saudi Arabia. It includes the backstory of the controversial termination of a Serious Fraud Office corruption investigation following pressure by the Saudi Royal Family and the British establishment.

The book has a companion website deceptioninhighplaces.com.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2014

About the author

Nicholas Gilby led Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)’s efforts to expose the corruption at the heart of Britain’s arms deals with Saudi Arabia over the past four decades. In 2008 he defeated Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office in an Information Tribunal to force the disclosure of many documents concerning corruption in Britain’s arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

His research on arms trade corruption has been extensively featured in The Guardian (and on the newspaper’s ‘BAE files’ website), TV (BBC Newsnight and Al Jazeera) and in an academic journal. He was previously a director of TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign.

You can follow Nicholas on Twitter: @nicholas_gilby

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite a preface saying it was written to be accessible to lay audiences, it wasn’t that accessible

And there were so many people mentioned by name, it was almost impossible to keep up with which organisations they were involved with

Would be cool to see an update though, given it was published more than a decade ago

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received my copy of this book for free through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

An incredibly detailed look at corruption in the arms trade, with a particular focus on chronicling the history of Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia beginning in 1963 right through to investigations taking place in the present day. Gilby outlines the key players involved on all sides - from those who were active participants in organising bribes or ‘special commissions’ and pivotal to the widespread acceptance of corruption in the British establishment, to those who attempted to pass legislation to block the corruption from taking place. We see how this legislation was often manipulated by both sides to continue giving and receiving bribes, sometimes in the personal interest of the person passing the laws.

The text is scattered with many direct quotes from documents that Nicholas Gilby obtained both through publicly available records and an Information Tribunal won in favour of the author against the Foreign and Commonwealth office. These provide in depth insights and extra knowledge of happenings that would have remained a secret had Gilby not won the Tribunal case.

Ending with an acceptance of arms trade corruption still being widespread today and incredibly unlikely to ever be fully eradicated, Gilby puts forward arguments on how to possibly reduce the amount of corruption, and calls for greater transparency to potentially aid in finding the corruption where it takes place.

[Lily Summers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. It succinctly highlights the source of bribery and corruption in the world in the field of Defense over a 40 year period. Gilby also eloquently shows how British Governments have attempted to block investigations into BAe (Al Yamamah deal) over the concern into economic interests and Saudi Arabia blocking future defence sales from BAe. British Governments even encourage corruption due to economic interests. It's a shame of a history from British Governments, which Gilby eloquently shows in this book.