Probe launched into Westminster group’s Israel funding

An official inquiry has been launched after Declassified revealed that an Israeli state-owned weapons firm had funded a group of British MPs.

RUK Advanced Systems Ltd sells weapons including urban combat missiles and “hard kill” torpedoes.

But records show it is part of the defence giant Rafael, which is owned by the Israeli government.

Our investigation found the company had paid at least £1,499 to partner with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Defence Technology, which provides “opportunities to network with MPs”. The money was paid directly to the group’s secretariat.

But parliamentary rules say that APPGs should not “accept the services of a secretariat funded directly or indirectly by a foreign government”.

Tommy Sheppard, a former SNP politician who sat on the Standards Committee, said it appeared to be a “crystal clear breach of the rules.”

Now, the parliamentary standards commissioner has launched an official investigation into “due diligence of funding”.

It is understood that one of the APPG’s co-chairs – Conservative MP Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst – referred the case himself, after being contacted by Declassified.

Shastri-Hurst, who represents Solihull West and Shirley, should be familiar with the rules as he currently sits on parliament’s Standards Committee and is a practising barrister.

When questioned about it last month, neither the APPG nor any of the MPs involved responded. But RUK’s name was immediately removed from the group’s website.

The company itself also did not respond to a request for comment, but appeared to delete its own website less than 12 hours after being questioned over the donation.

Now, two weeks on, the website is still offline.

Meanwhile, documents filed with Companies House show the corporate structure through which RUK is controlled was also immediately changed – although it remains under the control of the Israeli government.

The same change was made to the corporate structure of Newcastle-based Pearson Engineering, another arms company which was acquired by Israel’s state-owned arms giant Rafael in 2022.

Set up in 2022, RUK describes itself publicly as “a UK-based SME” and claims its products are “made in UK”. But the company’s location remains a mystery.

Official documents show it is registered at an address in north London. But this appears to be a service address operated by an accountancy firm and used only for formal correspondence.

Declassified was unable to find any trace of a physical presence in the UK, aside from a small handful of staff who appear to live in various parts of the UK.

RUK did not respond to questions about the location of its factory or office.

However, one of its directors has previously described the company’s “stunning new suite of offices and labs including a demo room”.