Emily Thornberry Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury
Dear Friends,
You may have seen the news yesterday – exposed by my friend Lloyd Russell Moyle MP – that the UK government licensed the export of at least £300,000 in spy equipment to the right-wing government in Honduras in the past 13 months, equipment which they are believed to have used to target their political opponents before last November’s heavily-disputed elections, and during the brutal repression that has followed.
I have written to Boris Johnson today asking what the Foreign Office knew about the export of this equipment. I’ve done so because I believe it would be rank hypocrisy for our government to defend democratic freedoms and attack political repression in countries like Venezuela and Iran, while simultaneously helping their political allies in other countries to act in the same way. And this time, they may have been caught in the act.