Robert Courts: Brize Norton's former MP and his Conservative Friends of Israel trip
Robert Courts, MP for the seat that includes RAF Brize Norton and later Solicitor General, took a 2020 trip to Israel paid for by Conservative Friends of Israel. It was declared and broke no rules.
Key points
- Robert Courts was Conservative MP for Witney, which includes RAF Brize Norton, from 2016 to 2024.
- In February 2020 he went on a 'fact-finding trip' to Israel paid for by Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), which Declassified UK lists as £2,300 of funding.
- He declared the trip in a Westminster Hall debate on 10 March 2020.
- The public record shows no breach of parliamentary rules, and he was no longer an MP when the protest at Brize Norton took place.
- He became chair of the Defence Select Committee in October 2023 and was Solicitor General from December 2023 to July 2024.
Declassified UK lists £2,300 of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) funding for Robert Courts' February 2020 trip to Israel, his only recorded funding from pro-Israel groups. Courts was then the Conservative MP for Witney, which includes RAF Brize Norton. He declared the trip, and the public record shows no breach of parliamentary rules.
#Who was Robert Courts?
RAF Brize Norton (base page) is the UK's largest RAF station, with about 5,800 service personnel, 300 civilian staff and 1,200 contractors, according to the Royal Air Force. The public record shows he championed the base.
Courts was elected in October 2016 in a by-election after David Cameron resigned. He lost his seat at the July 2024 general election, the first Conservative to lose Witney since the seat was created in 1983.
| Date | Fact | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2016 | Elected MP for Witney in the by-election after David Cameron resigned | Wikipedia |
| Sep 2017 | Visited AirTanker and the defence company Thales at Brize Norton, praising their "hugely impressive" capabilities | Robert Courts website |
| Aug 2019 | Invited Prime Minister Boris Johnson to visit Brize Norton, describing himself as Vice Chair (RAF) of the Armed Forces All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) | Robert Courts website |
| Feb 2020 | Went on a "fact-finding trip" to Israel paid for by Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). Declassified UK lists this as £2,300 of CFI funding, his only recorded funding from pro-Israel groups | Declassified UK funding list |
| 10 Mar 2020 | Declared the trip in a Westminster Hall debate on alleged radicalisation in the Palestinian school curriculum, where he criticised UK aid funding for teachers using those textbooks | Hansard via Parallel Parliament |
| Oct 2023 | Became chair of the Defence Select Committee | GOV.UK |
| Dec 2023 – Jul 2024 | Solicitor General for England and Wales, one of the government's law officers, who oversee the Crown Prosecution Service | Wikipedia / GOV.UK |
| Jul 2024 | Lost his seat at the general election, the first Conservative to lose Witney since the seat was created in 1983 | Wikipedia |
#What was the CFI trip?
Courts went on what the record describes as a "fact-finding trip" to Israel in February 2020, paid for by CFI. A month after the trip, on 10 March 2020, he declared it in a Westminster Hall debate on alleged radicalisation in the Palestinian school curriculum. In that debate he criticised UK aid funding for teachers using those textbooks, drawing on what he had seen.
#Is a declared trip acceptable?
Paid trips like this are legal and were registered. They are a routine way for lobby groups to build relationships with MPs. The same Declassified UK list records over 100 Conservative MPs funded by CFI.
Conservative Friends of Israel is a pro-Israel group within the Conservative Party. The trip took place in 2020, when Israel's settlements in occupied Palestinian territory had already been declared to have "no legal validity" by the UN Security Council in Resolution 2334 (December 2016).
Courts represented the constituency containing the UK's largest military air base, sat as Vice Chair (RAF) of the Armed Forces APPG, and later served as a government law officer. Those roles are why the trip matters here.
#What the record does not show
The record does not show any breach of parliamentary rules. He was never an AirTanker executive. The AirTanker link in the record is a visit to the company's Brize Norton site as an MP in September 2017, when he praised its capabilities.
He was no longer an MP when the protest at Brize Norton took place in June 2025. The questions the record raises concern the trip and the relationships that trips like it build. The record does not support a finding of wrongdoing. The base's wider role is set out in the chain of support between Brize Norton and Akrotiri.
Questions and answers
Was Robert Courts the MP for RAF Brize Norton?
He was the Conservative MP for Witney, the seat that includes the base, from 2016 until he lost it at the July 2024 general election.
Did Robert Courts break parliamentary rules over the Israel trip?
He declared the trip in a Westminster Hall debate in March 2020, and the public record shows no breach of parliamentary rules.
Who paid for Robert Courts' trip to Israel?
Conservative Friends of Israel paid for the February 2020 trip. Declassified UK lists it as £2,300 of CFI funding, his only recorded funding from pro-Israel groups.
Sources
- Robert Courts KC (ministerial biography)
- CFI funding of Conservative MPs
- Westminster Hall debate on alleged radicalisation in the Palestinian school curriculum
