Memo: On 5 July, right wing counter extremism think tank the Henry Jackson Society, released a report citing Saudi Arabia as the foremost promoter of Islamic extremism in the Muslim world and the West. British politicians and the media reacted with concern at the report, pressuring the government to release a much delayed study on the funding of extremist groups in the UK. One week later, a UK court ruled arms deals to Saudi Arabia legal.
The almost simultaneous verdicts on two controversial issues, only served to further highlight the long standing inconsistency in the UK government’s attitude towards the Arab Kingdom. In recent years public opinion has turned strongly against Saudi
Arabia, with its ever increasing record of human rights abuses and it’s slow to non-existent progress on the position of women in the country, who are still forbidden from driving or travelling without a male relative.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has also been leading a military coalition against Yemen, targeting Houthi rebels but engulfing the entire country in turmoil. Yemen is now facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world with 20 million people, out of a population of 25 million, requiring humanitarian assistance, warranting severe condemnation from the UN and NGOs.
Despite this, the UK government has been reluctant to criticise the gulf state. In 2016, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson accused Saudi Arabia of engaging in “proxy wars” in the region, adding that it was “puppeteering” due to a lack of strong leadership. Prime Minister Theresa May was quick in her assurance that this was not the view of the UK government, days later Johnson himself visited the Kingdom and affirmed the strength of ties between the two states, that the UK was committed to developing.
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