MPs praise Thomas over arms trade exposé

Mark Thomas has been praised by a parliamentary committee for his undercover work exposing the arms trade.

The comic posed as an arms dealer to find out how easy it was to obtain weapons to export to oppressive regimes, despite government bans.

He also found evidence of trade in torture equipment simply by looking on the internet, as he describes in his new book As Used On The Famous Nelson Mandela.

Today’s report accuses the Government of being ‘too passive’ in its policing of weapons export following Thomas’s work, which led to official warning letters being issued to several  companies.

The House of Commons Quadripartite Committee said it took ‘apparently little effort’ for Thomas to find two UK-based websites dealing in stun guns and batons for sale.

Thomas, who gave evidence to the committee in January, also found companies at a London arms fair last year offering electro-shock weapons, leg irons and stun weapons.

Trade minister Malcolm Wicks, told the committee he was ‘distressed’ by Thomas's findings and said the authorities had moved quickly to shut down the exhibition stands concerned. But the committee said the authorities should do more to ‘actively seek out breaches of export controls at arms fairs’.

It added: ‘The Government's response to the challenge of the internet as an arms emporium is too passive and fails to take account of the role it now plays in promoting and facilitating commerce and exports across the world.’

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Published: 3 Aug 2006