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Al-Yamamah Arms Agreement

The Attorney-General spent not, as the hon. Member for Twickenham put it, a few hours, but several days—I well remember him taking home large bundles of files for considerable periods of time—going through the detail. I spent quite a considerable time looking at the evidence as well, although, I have to confess, not as long as the Attorney-General. He formed the view that it was unlikely for legal as well as other reasons that a prosecution would succeed. It is the case that the director of the Serious Fraud Office thought that there might be some ability to continue investigating and that it might be able to prosecute, but that was likely to take a further 18 months and there were consequences in terms of Britain’s national and international security relationships, which were, in our view, likely to be damaged.