OFCON is not a government body. It is what one would look like if it had read its own rules. We rate ministers and leaders of every party. Not the policy: whether it applies to everyone.

Inspection framework 2026 · The rule under inspection is the government's, not ours

One rule for Israel.Another for everyone else.Pick a rule.

On 8 September the Foreign Secretary banned goods from Israeli settlements, declared an "unlawful occupation" and found "ethnic cleansing". Fine. We have no opinion on any of it. We just went to look for the Turkish version and the Moroccan version of the same policy, and found a free trade agreement and a tariff discount. So which is the rule? We'll take either. We'd settle for one.

The Millidumb Index Would Britain sanction you? Take the test

Northern Cyprus · held by Turkey since 20 July 1974

Days held0

Days Britain has banned its goods0

Turkish ministers sanctioned0

Free trade agreements with Turkey1

A bigger one is being negotiated. Britain guaranteed Cyprus's independence in 1960 and keeps two military bases on the island, with a good view.

Western Sahara · held by Morocco since 6 November 1975

Days held0

Days Britain has banned its goods0

Days its goods have had a UK tariff discount0

Days since Britain endorsed Morocco's plan for it0

Written into a treaty, challenged in the High Court, defended by the government, which won. This one Britain will go to court for.

West Bank · held by Israel since 1967, an "important security ally"

Days since Britain banned its goods0

Other held territories mentioned in the statement0

Principles offered that exclude Turkey and Morocco0

Phone calls to the ally before sanctioning it0

Phone calls before sanctioning it: to the President of the United States, 1; to the Emir of Qatar, leading Hamas sponsor, 1.

The Millidumb Index

Government consistency, measured continuously since July 2024 in Millidumbs (mD). A statement that applies the same rule to everyone moves the index down. A statement that applies it to one country moves it up. Hover a point for the ruling. The unit is named after the current Foreign Secretary, who has done more than anyone to establish it.

Portrait: UK Parliament, CC BY 3.0, pencil treatment applied

Current reading

Millidumbs

Methodology: each inspection report carries a Millidumb adjustment, set by the inspector and shown on hover. Zero is one rule for everyone. One hundred is one rule for Israel. The index has never been to zero; it opened at 12 because Britain inherited the Morocco treaty. It is capped at 100. The government is not.

0 mDOne rule for everyone. Theoretical.

25 mDA rule with an annex.

50 mDA rule with a free trade agreement.

75 mDA rule with a meeting.

100 mDFull Miliband. One rule for Israel.

The League Table

Britain's rule, as stated on 8 September: no trade with settlements in territory it calls "occupied". Which territories are those? Not our call; the quotation marks are load-bearing. We only checked whether the government applies its rule to the places its own position covers. It does, or it doesn't.

Territory	Held by	Since	Citizens of the holder moved in	What Britain did	Rule applied?
Northern CyprusRepublic of Cyprus: UN member, Commonwealth member, EU member	TurkeyNATO ally	1974	Yes. The Council of Europe called it "colonisation" in 1992 and again in 2003. Settlers now outnumber the Turkish Cypriots.	Signed a free trade agreement with Turkey. Negotiating a bigger one. Sanctioned nobody, banned nothing, summoned no one, mentioned it never.	WaivedReason not given
Western SaharaUN non-self-governing territory since 1963	Morocco	1975	Yes. The ICJ upheld Saharawi self-determination in 1975. Morocco marched in that October.	Gave the territory's goods a tariff discount (2019). Defended the discount in the High Court (2022). Endorsed Morocco's plan for the territory in Rabat (2025), on the day it announced access to £33bn of Moroccan procurement.	WaivedReason not given
West BankNot annexed; status to be negotiated under Oslo. "Occupied": the government's word, not ours	Israel"Important security ally"	1967	Yes.	Settlement goods banned. Sanctions on anyone financing or building. Arms licences withdrawn. "Unlawful occupation" declared, "ethnic cleansing" found. Announced three days before Rosh Hashanah and three weeks before Labour conference, to the applause of 140 MPs who'd written in asking for it.	Applied
Three allies holding territory. Rule applied to one. Guess.					Inadequate

Overall rating: Inadequate

Not for what Britain did to Israel. For what it didn't do to anyone else. A rule for one country isn't a rule; it's a grudge with a letterhead. Pick a rule.

Would Britain sanction you?

The OFCON Sanctions Eligibility Test. Answer four questions about the territory you hold and find out what Britain will do about it. Results are based on precedent rather than principle, principle being unavailable.

Are you holding territory the UN says isn't yours?For decades, contrary to resolutions you have not read.

Have you moved your own citizens into it?Settlements, colonies, "demographic change", call it what you like.

Do you have a free trade agreement with the UK?Or a treaty that gives goods from the territory a tariff discount.

Are you Israel?Not on the Foreign Office form. Added for accuracy.

Result: Free trade agreement

Congratulations. You are holding territory, settling it, and trading with Britain on preferential terms. No further action. Britain may endorse your plan for the territory if there is procurement in it.

Test calibrated against Turkey (1974–), Morocco (1975–) and Israel (1967–). Recalibrated the moment a principle is published. No rush.

Inspection reports

Every statement by a minister or a party leader gets an inspection. We inspect all parties, which is more than the Foreign Office can say for maps. Reports are never withdrawn, only corrected.

Good OFCON/2026/013 · 9 Sept 2026 · Conservative

The Shadow Foreign Secretary

Inspected: Tom Tugendhat MP, responding to the statement · 8 Sept 2026
Asked: What evidence; why the Foreign Office's own advice said it wouldn't work; what the effect on community cohesion "barely a year since the first antisemitic murder in our country"
Asked about Cyprus or Western Sahara: No

Evidence, coherence and consequences, in that order. That is what an inspection looks like from the other despatch box. Good rather than Outstanding: the atlas stayed shut. The rule for the opposition is the same as for the government, and it was mostly met. One rule. Nearly.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/012 · 9 Sept 2026

Two standards of proof

Inspected: Foreign Secretary's statement · 8 Sept 2026
On "genocide": Requires "full, robust and fair judicial processes", as with Rwanda, Srebrenica, Cambodia
On "ethnic cleansing": Found. By the minister. That afternoon.
Court consulted: For one word, yes. For the other, no.

Genocide, the House was told, is for judges. Ethnic cleansing, the House was told in the same breath, is for Ed. One term has a treaty definition and the other doesn't, which is exactly why a careful government would hold the loose one with tongs. Pick a standard.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/011 · 9 Sept 2026

The £250 million, again

Inspected: Foreign Secretary's statement · 8 Sept 2026
Said: "We are rightly putting in place an additional investment of £250 million for community security"
Actually announced: 13 July 2026, Home Office: £251m over three years, after the threat level went to severe
New money on 8 September: £0
Times announced: 2
Times paid: No funding profile published. No first tranche reported.

Sanctions on the Jewish state, and in the same breath, money to guard British Jews. The money was two months old and, as far as anyone can show, still in the Treasury; "additional" was doing the work of "already promised". We don't say the two halves of the sentence are connected. The Foreign Secretary put them in the same sentence. Pick a rule.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/010 · 9 Sept 2026 · Conservative

The Father of the House

Inspected: Sir Edward Leigh MP, Conservative · 8 Sept 2026
Position: Backed the measures "absolutely and fully"; called it "ethnic cleansing"
Asked about Cyprus: No
Party that signed the Morocco treaty: His

The longest-serving member of the House endorsed a rule his own party wrote the exemptions to. We don't doubt his sincerity. We doubt his atlas. Opposition is not an exemption. Pick a rule.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/005A · retrospective

The summons

Inspected: Foreign Secretary's statement on the E1 tender · 19 Aug 2026
Action: Israeli chargé d'affaires summoned to the FCDO over a tender document
Finding: "All settlements … a flagrant breach of international law"
Turkish or Moroccan diplomats summoned over settlements, ever: None on record

A tender was published. No earth moved. A diplomat was summoned. 115,000 Turkish settlers in Cyprus, counted by the Council of Europe, have never cost Ankara a cup of FCDO tea. If all settlements are a flagrant breach, where are the other summonses? Pick a rule.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/004A · retrospective

"No responsible Government would do that"

Inspected: Chris Elmore MP, FCDO minister, Sudan debate · 25 June 2026
Asked: Sanctions over the El Fasher massacre, and on its backers
Answer: "We do not debate sanctions on the Floor of the House — no responsible Government would do that"
Sanctions announced on the Floor of the House 75 days later: Israel's

June: sanctions too delicate to discuss in the Chamber. September: announced there, with a video. We checked. Same room. Pick a rule.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/003A · retrospective

The strategic partner

Inspected: Stephen Doughty MP, Minister for Europe, written statement · 13 Oct 2025
Action: Arms embargo on Azerbaijan lifted; upgraded to "strategic partner"
Two years earlier: c.100,000 Armenians left Nagorno-Karabakh in about ten days
Ministerial finding of "ethnic cleansing": None located. Corrections welcome.

A whole population left in less time than it takes to get a GP appointment. Britain's response, in due course, was to sell Baku more weapons. We're not asking for sanctions on Azerbaijan. We're asking what the words mean. Pick a rule.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/007 · 9 Sept 2026

The statement to the House

Inspected: Ed Miliband MP, Foreign Secretary · 8 Sept 2026
Measures: Goods ban, sanctions on finance and construction, arms licences withdrawn
Findings: "Unlawful occupation"; "ethnic cleansing"
Other held territories mentioned: None
Rule stated: None that survives contact with a map

The policy isn't under inspection. The rule is. We searched the statement for the rule that bans goods from Ma'ale Adumim and discounts goods from Laayoune. It isn't there. A list of one is not a rule. Pick a rule.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/006 · 9 Sept 2026

The video: "I've just come out of a meeting"

Inspected: Foreign Secretary, social media, w/c 31 Aug 2026
Evidence cited: Things people said in the meeting
Evidence published: None
Disputed: In detail, the same day

We don't know what was said in the meeting, and neither do you. We do know nobody has ever sanctioned Morocco after a meeting, and Morocco has been in a lot of meetings. Standard of evidence: a moving story. Applied anywhere else: never. Pick a rule.

Requires
improvement OFCON/2026/005 · 9 Sept 2026

Who the Prime Minister phoned

Inspected: Andy Burnham MP, Prime Minister · 7–8 Sept 2026
Phoned first: The President of the United States, and the Emir of Qatar, leading Hamas sponsor
Not phoned: The Prime Minister of the country being sanctioned
That country, per Pat McFadden: "An important security ally"

Before sanctioning an ally, the Prime Minister rang the ally's patron and the ally's enemy's leading sponsor. He did not ring the ally. Requires Improvement, not Inadequate: two people were phoned, which is a form of consultation. Pick a rule.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/004 · retrospective

The Rabat weekend

Inspected: David Lammy MP, then Foreign Secretary · 1–3 June 2025
Territory: Western Sahara, held since 1975, UN non-self-governing
Position adopted: Morocco's own plan is "the most credible, viable and pragmatic basis"
Announced alongside: c.£33bn of Moroccan procurement; World Cup 2030 contracts

Fifty years of support for a referendum, dropped the same weekend the commercial agreements were signed. Fifteen months later the same government sanctioned a different country, holding different territory, for less. We allege no connection. We note the dates. Noting dates is the job. Pick a rule.

Inadequate OFCON/2026/003 · retrospective · Conservative

The Morocco treaty, 2019

Inspected: Department for International Trade, Conservative government · signed 26 Oct 2019
Provision: Goods from Western Sahara under Moroccan customs get the Moroccan tariff discount
Challenged: Judicial review, 2022
Outcome: Government defended the discount and won, 5 Dec 2022

A Conservative government wrote a tariff discount for goods from a UN-listed non-self-governing territory into a treaty, then sent lawyers to court to keep it. Any Conservative calling the Israel ban inconsistent is invited to say what they'd do about their own annex. We inspect all parties. Not all of them fail. Pick a rule.

Register of the words

We have no view on whether any of these was ethnic cleansing. We record only whether a British minister said so, and what Britain did next. A word used about one country isn't a description. It's a policy.

Event	What happened	Did a UK minister call it "ethnic cleansing"?	What Britain did next
West Bank2026	Settler violence; the E1 tender published. The tender is a document; it has displaced nobody.	YesForeign Secretary, 8 Sept 2026, on the strength of a meeting	Goods ban, sanctions, arms embargo, chargé summoned.
Nagorno-Karabakh2023	Azerbaijan's offensive; c.100,000 Armenians, nearly the entire population, left within about ten days.	Not locatedOFCON has found no ministerial statement using the term. Corrections welcome.	Arms embargo lifted, Oct 2025. Azerbaijan named a "strategic partner".
El Fasher, Sudan2025	The RSF took the city; mass killings; ministers accepted the violence bore "the hallmarks of genocide".	Court required"Genocide should be determined by a competent court" — Baroness Chapman, June 2026	Sanctions on its backers "not debated on the Floor of the House".
Northern Cyprus1974–	Council of Europe: systematic "colonisation"; 115,000 settlers by 2001, outnumbering Turkish Cypriots.	Not locatedThe Council of Europe's word was "colonisation". Britain's was nothing.	Free trade agreement, 2021. A bigger one on the way.
Ministerial findings of "ethnic cleansing" among these four: 1. Trade or arms upgrades granted afterwards: 3.			Inadequate

Anticipated objections

The replies have been pre-inspected. Ministers are welcome to try a new one.

"But Crimea. Britain bans trade with Crimea. So there is a rule."

There is, and it isn't this one. Crimea was annexed outright by a state that had invaded a member of the United Nations, and Britain sanctions Russia as an adversary across the board. Israel has annexed nothing in the West Bank, and the government calls it an important security ally in the same breath as sanctioning it.

If the rule were "Britain does not trade with land held by force", Western Sahara disproves it: the tariff discount sits in a treaty Britain defended in court. If the rule is "Britain sanctions adversaries", Israel is on the wrong list. Crimea shows only that Britain knows how to do this when it decides to. Pick a rule.

"This is whataboutery."

Whataboutery is changing the subject. The subject is the rule, and the rule is the government's. Asking a regulator to apply its rule twice isn't a diversion. It's the second inspection.

"The ICJ said the occupation is unlawful."

The ICJ upheld Western Sahara's right to self-determination in October 1975. Britain signed the tariff discount forty-four years later and endorsed Morocco's alternative plan in 2025. Nobody has asked the Court about northern Cyprus, because nobody with a free trade agreement to lose has asked. A government that follows the Court when it likes the answer is not following the Court.

"Israel is a democracy, so we hold it to a higher standard."

Britain adopted a definition of antisemitism in 2016. One of its listed examples is "applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation". OFCON did not write that. The government did.

"Cyprus and Western Sahara are frozen. The West Bank is changing now."

Northern Cyprus changed by 115,000 settlers. Western Sahara's status changed in June 2025, when Britain changed it. Nagorno-Karabakh changed by its entire population in ten days. The West Bank changed in August by one tender document. If the rule is "we act on change", the inspector has a list.

"The Moroccan tariff was the Conservatives' doing."

Signed under the Conservatives in 2019, defended in court under the Conservatives in 2022, and topped up with an endorsement of Morocco's plan under Labour in 2025. OFCON inspects all parties. This one has been inspected twice and failed twice.

Form OFCON-1: Application for exemption from the rule

For use by states holding territory who would prefer a trade deal. The Foreign Office hasn't published its exemption criteria, so we've reverse-engineered them from the successful applications.

Application for exemptionForm OFCON-1 (rev. Sept 2026)

Applicant________________ (state holding territory)

Territory held________________

Held since19__

Settlers transferred________ (approx.; do not attach census)

Grounds for exemptionTick all that apply. Successful applicants ticked at least two.

Member of NATO Free trade agreement in force or under negotiation Public procurement market worth £30bn or more Hosting a World Cup Oil, gas, phosphates, or a migration agreement Nobody in the PLP has written a letter about you Democracy with an independent supreme court Described as an "important security ally" Jewish

For official use. Exemption granted: ☐ Turkey (1974, renewed 2021) ☐ Morocco (1975; renewed 2019, 2022, 2025) ☐ Azerbaijan (2023; strategic partner 2025) ☐ Israel — REFUSED. Reason: see letter from 140 MPs.

The Foreign Secretary's Dictionary

Terms as ministers actually use them. Definitions inferred from usage. We don't speculate about intent. We don't have to.

ally – whatabouteryOFCON concise edition, 2026

ally, important securityn.

1A country you sanction without ringing first, having rung Washington and Doha.

2Contrast strategic partner: a country you sell arms to after its neighbour's population has left.

competent courtn.

1Required before the word genocide may be used. See Rwanda, Srebrenica, Cambodia, Sudan.

2Not required before the words ethnic cleansing may be used. See meeting.

comprehensive resetn.

1A change of policy towards one country. The adjective is decorative.

ethnic cleansingn.

1A thing that happens in one country.

2Not observed in northern Cyprus (the Council of Europe said “colonisation”), Western Sahara, or Nagorno-Karabakh (100,000 people, ten days). Those are filed under complex.

evidencen.

1Something someone said in a meeting the Foreign Secretary has just come out of.

2See video.

Floor of the Housen.

1A place where no responsible Government debates sanctions (June).

2A place where sanctions are announced (September).

most credible, viable and pragmatic basisn. phr.

1The holding state's own plan, when signed in Rabat on a procurement weekend. Usage otherwise unattested.

occupation, unlawfuln.

1Territory held by a state with which the UK has no free trade agreement.

2OFCON uses the phrase only in quotation marks. It is the government's, and the government is welcome to it.

one rulen.

1Unattested in ministerial usage. Reward offered for the first confirmed sighting.

progressive realismn.

1Progressive towards Israel. Realist towards everyone with a procurement budget.

settlementn.

1Citizens of the holding state living in held territory, when Israeli.

2Otherwise demographic change, the situation on the island, or silence.

summonsn.

1What a chargé d'affaires receives when his government publishes a tender.

2What no Turkish diplomat has received in fifty-two years.

tendern.

1A document that has moved no earth, sanctioned as though it were a bulldozer.

2Contrast Moroccan customs stamp, which earns a discount.

whatabouteryn.

1Asking a regulator to apply its own rule twice.

2OFCON pleads guilty and asks for the rule to be taken into consideration.

Receipts

Every claim on this site links to a primary document. A claim with no receipt is removed. Corrections are published, dated and left in plain sight, which is more than can be said for the exemption criteria.

Israel · Sept 2026Foreign Secretary's oral statement on Israel-Palestine, 8 September 2026: goods ban; sanctions on finance, construction and advertising; "double lock" arms embargo; "the occupation is unlawful"; "ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank"; genocide requires "full, robust and fair judicial processes"; "an additional investment of £250 million for community security".
Security · July 2026Home Office, "Record investment to protect Jewish communities", 13 July 2026: £251m over three years; c.500 additional officers; £86m Metropolitan Police, £22m Greater Manchester, £59m Counter-Terrorism Policing. The same money, first time round. Written statement HLWS250, 14 July 2026: £251.1m "over the next three years"; no per-year profile, no allocation date.
Israel · 2026Pat McFadden: measures "specifically targeted at the expansion of these settlements"; Israel an "important security ally". Broadcast interviews, 8 September 2026.
Israel · Aug 2026Foreign Secretary statement on the E1 tender, 19 August 2026: "All settlements … are a flagrant breach of international law"; Israeli chargé d'affaires summoned.
Sudan · June 2026Commons debate on Sudan, 25 June 2026: Chris Elmore MP, "we do not debate sanctions on the Floor of the House — no responsible Government would do that". Baroness Chapman, June 2026: "The UK maintains that genocide should be determined by a competent court."
Azerbaijan · Oct 2025Written ministerial statement, Stephen Doughty MP, 13 October 2025: arms embargoes on Azerbaijan and Armenia lifted, both designated strategic partners. Nagorno-Karabakh, September 2023: c.100,000 Armenians left within days of Azerbaijan's offensive.
Morocco · 2025Written ministerial statement HLWS675, 3 June 2025: UK endorsement of Morocco's autonomy proposal as "the most credible, viable, and pragmatic basis for a solution"; access to c.£33bn of Moroccan procurement; World Cup 2030 partnership.
Morocco · 2022Western Sahara Campaign UK v Secretary of State for International Trade [2022] EWHC 3108 (Admin), 5 December 2022: challenge to the tariff preference for Western Sahara goods dismissed.
Morocco · 2019UK–Morocco Association Agreement, signed 26 October 2019, in force 1 January 2021: preferential treatment extended to goods from Western Sahara under Moroccan customs control.
Turkey · 2021UK–Turkey Free Trade Agreement, signed December 2020, in force 1 January 2021; enhanced agreement under negotiation, expected in the second half of 2026.
Cyprus · 2003Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Doc. 9799, "Colonisation by Turkish settlers of the occupied part of Cyprus", 2 May 2003 (following the 1992 Cuco report): settlers estimated at 115,000, outnumbering indigenous Turkish Cypriots; Turkey called on to halt colonisation.
Cyprus · 1960Treaty of Guarantee, 1960: United Kingdom, Greece and Turkey as guarantor powers of the Republic of Cyprus. Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia retained by the UK.
Definition · 2016International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, adopted by the UK Government, December 2016. Among its examples: "Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation."

About OFCON

OFCON is an independent campaign. No party, no government, no lobby, no view on Israeli policy, the settlements or the war. Its authors are British citizens who would rather the argument were judged on its receipts than on their surnames.

OFCON inspects one thing: does the British government apply the same rule to everyone? It rates ministers and leaders of every party, in government and out, and hands out the grades it finds. Some pass. The first government to treat every territory it calls "occupied" the way it treats the West Bank, or to publish the principle for why it won't, gets an Outstanding, a certificate and a biscuit.

In 2016 Britain adopted a definition of antisemitism which lists, as an example, a double standard applied to Israel and to no other democracy. We didn't write that. The government did. We're just reading it aloud.

What OFCON is not

Not a defence of settlements. Not a defence of the Israeli government. Not a party. Not an argument about Gaza. Not a view on whether the West Bank is "occupied"; that word sits in quotation marks because it's the government's, and we inspect the government's use of its own words. We want one thing: to know whether Britain has one rule, and if so, what it is.

Complaints

OFCON operates a complaints procedure. Find someone you like, go for a drink, and tell them your complaint in full. Complaints about the Foreign Secretary should be addressed to the Foreign Secretary, who does not operate a complaints procedure and does go for bacon butties.

One rule for Israel. Another for everyone else. Pick a rule. Take the test