On 30 July 2008 the House of Lords ruled in the case of R v Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) [2008] UKHL 60 that the inquiry into the arms deal between one of the biggest British arms assemblers, BAE Systems, and the Saudi Arabian State, should be brought to a halt immediately in the interests of national security, causing “serious damage to the UK/Saudi security, intelligence and diplomatic cooperation” (as per Prime Minister and the Foreign and Defence Secretaries in para. 3 of the Case for the Respondents) . The Divisional Court found that the decision to halt…