Declassified UK: A supremely secretive system

Posted: 9th March 2026

Whether it is why dozens of US war planes were allowed to transit through UK military bases en route to the Middle East last week before the US and Israel struck Iran, or that more than 2,000 Britons served in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) during the Gaza genocide, or in understanding the extent to which lobbying for foreign states impacts decisions taken by the UK government – secrecy and a systemic compulsion to conceal the truth in real time is baked into our political system.

When, for example, for a recent article, we asked the ministry of defence if Trump had been given permission to use Diego Garcia (UK-US military base) or RAF Fairford ahead of an expected attack on Iran, an MoD spokesperson said as part of the answer:

“As routine, we do not comment on the operational activity of other nations, including third party use of UK bases.”

Our reply to that is why not?

Days later, after it was reported that Keir Starmer had refused Trump’s request to use the two bases over legal concerns, we asked the ministry if it could confirm the refusal. It declined to do so.  

Why don’t the public have a right to know how UK bases are being used by foreign states? It should be a matter of course that the public have a right to know- especially if it means being implicated in growing tensions in the Middle East and a US-Israel war with Iran.

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Now that Keir Starmer has given his approval to attack Iran using British military bases, Mark Curtis has written this important article about the secrecy over the US use of these bases.  

It’s not just that it is difficult to get information from the government departments when asking to reply to our findings, or in the slow and frustrating process of having to file freedom of information requests, or even inadequate responses when parliamentarians ask questions, but fundamentally the exasperating job of trying to get information from the government is a symptom of a system which is not compelled or meant to be truthful. 

It’s why proper investigative journalism, like ours, becomes threatening to a system reliant on secrecy.

Did you see that Labour Together, a thinktank with ties to the top of the Labour government, paid a PR firm £36,000 to investigate journalists from media outlets including John McEvoy who is now Declassified UK’s chief reporter?

Labour MP Josh Simons, who ran Labour Together when the PR firm was hired, resigned as a Cabinet Office minister last week.

THANK YOU!

We are very happy to say that Declassified UK has now secured a press pass to report from Westminster, which is a victory for independent journalism!

I have no doubt that the overwhelming support of the public helped us achieve this. A huge thanks to over 5,800 of you who signed our open letter in support of our application after it was declined by parliamentary authorities back in June 2025.

You can read the full details of this win here.

On 31 January, Declassified held our first summit! This event brought together 17 different organisations, as well as journalists, academics, activists, and supporters for a full day of discussion.

Declassified was proud to host hundreds of people who gathered to discuss how we collectively challenge the drive to war, which, as every passing day shows us, is one of the most important issues of our time.

Watch out for our full event report coming soon.

Laura Pidcock

Co-director
Declassified UK