Yorkshire priest joins protest at arms fair

The Rev Chris Howson, a social activist based in Bradford, joined anti-arms trade protesters in a bid to disrupt the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition at the ExCel Centre in east London.

Mr Howson said: “We believe as Christians that trading arms with repressive regimes is against the will of God and ask all Christians to write to their MPs to call for greater controls on the sale of arms to nations who have a record of repressing their own people.”

Activists blocked access to the arms fair for about an hour, singing hymns as people looked on.

Mr Howson also joined a protest outside defence company BAe Systems in London.

The demonstrations were organised by the Campaign Against Arms Trade, which works to end the international arms trade.

Companies attending the event included those involved in the manufacture of cluster bombs and armed drones, say campaigners.

The event was attended by Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who yesterday insisted Britain’s arms export restrictions were among the world’s toughest as he called for more UK defence technology to be sold abroad.

He claimed “profit” and “market share” were not dirty words, but stressed that the Government would not compromise its values by allowing weapons to be sold to repressive regimes.

He added: “The United Kingdom’s export licensing regime is amongst the most rigorous in the world. Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are mandatory considerations for all export licence applications, which we consider on a case-by-case basis.”