Dubai: UK ministers are required to act as arms salesmen whenever they travel, to push the UK's defence exports, according to policy.
"The prime minister has stated that any government minister travelling overseas should promote the best that Britain has to offer, including in defence and security," Gerald Howarth, Minister for International Security Strategy said earlier this year.
The UK's arms export licensing policy has been called into question since recent uprisings in the Middle East, with numerous licences being revoked.
An EU arms embargo has also been imposed on Libya, after internal repression was being enforced — against EU Common Position regulations.
Howarth alluded to high-profile visits while visiting the Abu Dhabi IDEX fair, in terms of defence: "So the prime minister was here [in the region], the Queen was here in November, the Foreign Secretary [William Hague], the Business Secretary Vince Cable and Liam Fox [Defence Secretary]," he told Gulf News on the sidelines of the Gulf Defence Conference (GDC).
Prime Minister David Cameron came under fire for visiting Egypt soon after the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak, taking high-profile defence firm chiefs with him.
This push by all Ministers is ‘strange' for Professor Trevor Taylor, Professorial Research Fellow in Defence Management from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
"It's obviously not in the brief of an Education Minister or an Agriculture Minister, and I can't really see that they could make a useful contribution to debate.
"It's something that historically has been a matter for defence ministers and to a lesser extent for trade ministers and to a certain extent the foreign minister; because of course when you supply defence equipment you're making a foreign policy commitment in many ways," Professor Taylor told Gulf News from London.
"I find it slightly bizarre that all Ministers should be expected to do this," he said.
While in government, Labour was not comfortable with that, nor did it understand "what defence exports can deliver" Howarth continued: "They see it in rather crude and simplistic terms, which I understand but I think that they're mistaken".
Peter Luff, Defence Equipment Minister, said in June last year that there was "no embarrassment" of exporting defence products.
"We were absolutely clear in opposition that we intended to increase the drive for defence exports. That's why I was appointed as Minister in charge of defence exports, with a specific remit to promote this... it's led by the Prime Minister," Howarth said.
