LAST MONTH, a Guardian report revealed that pan-European missile maker MBDA manufactures a key component for one of the bombs the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are raining on Gaza.

The report, based on a thorough joint work between the Guardian, French investigative group Disclose and Dutch journalism organisation called Follow The Money, showed how this top European weapons maker is deeply implicated in the widespread killing of civilians.

One extra point I want to add to their investigation is that MBDA is one of the British government’s favourite firms, with multiple links to Team Starmer. This shows how Labour’s close embrace of the arms industry compromises its stance on Gaza.

The July Guardian investigation showed MBDA makes the “wings” for Boeing’s GBU-39 bomb, which unfold after launch so the bomb can be guided to target. Since 2023 the US has actively promoted the IDF’s use of GBU-39’s, arguing this smaller 250-pound munition causes less “collateral damage” than bigger bombs. But by dropping many of these smaller bombs exported from the US, often on “soft” targets, the IDF have killed many civilians.

The distinctive GBU-39 “wings” are often found in the wreckage of these deadly attacks. The investigation pointed out that while this is a smaller bomb, it is very deadly when used against people as “in an enclosed space, it creates a lethal fireball.”

For example, a GBU-39 was used in the attack on the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school in Gaza City in May. This killed 36 people, half of them children, and is memorable because of much-watched footage of one of the children, five-year-old Hanin al-Wadie, stumbling around in the flames. Wadie survived, although with extremely serious burns.

The most significant thing about MBDA is that it is a pan-European company, jointly owned by BAE Systems (Britain), Airbus (France) and Leonardo (Italy). They were set up so European arms firms could compete with US defence giants.

The GBU-39 wings are made in an MBDA factory in Alabama. MBDA Inc, the US branch of the company making the GBU-39 parts is listed as a subsidiary of MBDA UK ltd. So money for the wings that guide bombs down to kill Gazan children flows from the US to MBDA’s British base in Stevenage, and then on the MBDA’s headquarters in Paris, from where the profits are split up between the British, French and Italian owners.

It’s a disgusting, dirty business, but one that is much admired by Keir Starmer’s government. Starmer’s government is generally keen on the arms industry, and the fact that MBDA represents pan-European co-operation makes them especially good in Labour’s eyes.

This July, Starmer issued a press release on Anglo-French “defence co-operation,” emphasising Britain would be “working closely with MBDA to identify the opportunities from our investments.”

This May, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds made a joint announcement with Chris Allam, the British executive serving on MBDA’s board, celebrating the firm’s latest investment in its Bolton factory.

In March, Reynolds, Rachel Reeves, Defence Secretary John Healey and Scottish Secretary Ian Murray issued a joint statement on increased defence industry support, again endorsed by a statement from Allam, describing MBDA as the “UK’s sovereign complex weapons provider.”

MBDA is represented by lobbyists FTI Consulting, which in turn employs former Labour shadow defence minister Gemma Doyle and Abdi Duale, a current member of Labour national executive committee.

MBDA itself has a history of hiring ex-Labour ministers. In 2006, (since disgraced) former Labour defence minister Ivor Caplin became an MBDA consultant — so current Labour ministers may also expect future employment with the firm. The company helping make the bombs killing Gazan civilians has multiple links to Labour.

General Stanley McChrystal: war and the NHS

IN JULY I showed that Health Secretary Wes Streeting invited in US General Stanley McChrystal, a key player in the disastrous Iraq and Afghanistan wars, to give advice on NHS “reform.”

McChrystal brought a “colleague” who was a “former 22 SAS Squadron Commander” to the meeting with him. After pressing the Department of Health I can now reveal that this ex-SAS commander is also a director of leading privatisation company Mitie. It seems that Streeting, looking for weird military advice on how to run the NHS, also brought even more privatisers into the Department of Health.

Streeting met McChrystal last November, because Streeting thought McChrystal’s “experience in mobilising change” would “inform” his “10-year plan for health.”

McChrystal led Joint Special Operations Command, the US special forces body that fought the al-Qaida insurgency in US-occupied Iraq from 2003-8. He then went on to lead US “counterinsurgency” plans in Afghanistan.

Some say McChrystal was successful, but his battle in Iraq included soldiers under his command torturing Iraqis, notably at the secretive Camp Nama in Baghdad. McChrystal’s supposed “success” in Iraq meant beating al-Qaida — only to see it replaced by the even more dangerous Islamic State. His “victory” in Afghanistan also didn’t last long.

When Streeting asked McChrystal to come give him advice on the NHS drawn from his “war on terror” experiences, the general asked if he could bring along a British friend who used to be an SAS squadron commander.

When I first made the freedom of information request that unearthed this tale, the Department of Health would not name this ex-SAS man. I pressed them, and they agreed to release his name: McChrystal brought Charlie Antelme with him to meet Streeting.

Antelme was in the SAS, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he is now a director of Mitie, a British privatisation specialist. Antelme is Mitie’s “defence director,” chasing its many military privatisation contracts. Mitie is also a leading NHS privatiser, where it has faced a series of battles with unions over poor pay for NHS support staff.

One of the features of the “war on terror” is that the military “interventions” often mixed great injustice with a large amount of privatisation, with money for “reconstruction” or “security” or even interrogations and torture flowing to companies with political links. It looks like this association between former players in the “war on terror” and privatisation still exists.

Follow Solomon Hughes on X @solhugheswriter.