Flags, Fear and F-35s: Who Profits from War and Division?

Flags, Fear and F-35s: Who Profits from War and Division?

By John Cooper and Carol Williams
26.8.2025

Armed conflict is the most frequent cause of large-scale, forced displacement worldwide. Those who profit from war depend on a compliant media and politicians who deflect people’s anger onto the those forced to flee conflict.

Birmingham has been at the epicentre of ‘Operation Raise the Colours’. You might have noticed the odd flag going up here and there. Egged on by politicians like Farage, Badenoch, Jenrick and Starmer, small teams of men have been working day and night to turn parts of Birmingham into an enforced celebration of nationalism.

Underlying the apparent explosion of patriotic fervour is the idea of injustice: that something is fundamentally unfair, that someone, somewhere, is getting more than they deserve – at ‘our’ expense; that ‘we’ are being ‘rinsed’, by asylum seekers, migrants, or Muslims, or perhaps all three.

Something that probably isn’t keeping the stalwarts of Operation Raise the Colours and their supporters awake at night is the activities of GKN Aerospace, and their owner, UK aerospace manufacturing company, Melrose Industries.

Both companies have their corporate headquarters in Birmingham city centre.

According to Melrose’s website, the company – through GKN Aerospace – manufactures components for the global aerospace industry, supplying both civil and defence platforms.

In fact, Melrose and GKN have a long history of profiting from war. In 2014 during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, the GKN factory in Kings Norton came to the attention of Palestine activists when it was identified as one of six companies in the West Midlands who had applied for military licences in Israel.

The Campaign Against the Arms Trade has highlighted that GKN Aerospace has supplied defence systems and components to customers around the world, from military aircraft to drones, missile canisters, and more.

In 2018, when Melrose, known for its history of asset-stripping, acquired GKN, it showed little concern for the workforce. They closed the Kings Norton factory, resulting in the loss of over 170 jobs. Unite the union accused Melrose of breaking assurances given to the workers during the takeover.

Today, Melrose and GKN are key players in the production of F-35 fighter jets, which Israel uses regularly in its ongoing genocide against the people of Gaza.

Last year, amid growing pressure from the Palestine solidarity movement, the UK government suspended around 30 arms export licenses to Israel, including equipment destined for the Israeli military and its operations in Gaza. But critically, for Israel, F-35s were exempted from this suspension.

In June, the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq challenged the UK government in the High Court, urging an immediate halt to F-35 exports to Israel due to ongoing violations of international law. The court refused, allowing the UK to persist in arming Israel’s genocide – while arms manufacturers like Melrose and GKN continue to profit.

But Melrose Industries recently made the news for another reason. A new study by the High Pay Centre reveals that in the past four years – during the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades for communities in places like Weoley Castle, Frankley, and Hodge Hill – CEO pay has risen year on year. The average UK CEO now earns 122 times more than the average UK full-time worker.

While we publicly argue over the meaning of flags, beyond the gaze of the media, with the help of their friends in parliament, people with wealth and power quietly enrich themselves.

And who is at the top of the table? The highest paid CEO in the country is, you guessed it, the boss of Melrose Industries. When Peter Dilnot took over from Simon Peckham last year, the two of them pocketed nearly £59 million combined.

So yes, we are being “rinsed” – but not by Muslims, migrants, or those fleeing war and persecution in small boats.

Direct your anger at those who deserve it – wealthy elites who make unimaginable profits from the arms industry, an industry that contributes more than any other to global instability, war, displacement, and yes, the refugee crisis.

No to war! No to racism! Tax the rich! Refugees welcome here!

Take action:

5th September – Protest at Reform UK Conference, NEC.