British prime minister David Cameron receiving his decoration from King Abdullah in 2012. The award, The Order of King Abdul Aziz, is given to foreigners for "meritorious service" to the kingdom.

The death of King Abdullah prompted an outburst of anger yesterday over Britain's sycophantic relationship with Saudi Arabia.

In a tribute to the dead king, flags were lowered to half-mast on government buildings in Whitehall – as well as at Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. The official explanation is that this was in line with established protocol but many saw it as a step too far.

Today's newspapers, across the political and social spectrum, focus on public discontent – from the Sun ("Fury as flags fly half-mast after King Abdullah's death") to the Financial Times ("UK flag tribute to Saudi king criticised"), from the Daily Mail ("Flags at half mast and fawning praise") to the Independent ("Saudi King Abdullah: Britain mourns a tyrant"). In an online poll for the Telegraph, 70% disagreed with the flag-flying decision.

This is unlikely to be the end of the complaints, because today Prince Charles – heir to the British throne – and prime minister David Cameron are flying to Riyadh to pay their respects.

The official grovelling also comes in the midst of protests over the case of Raif Badawi, a Saudi activist sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes for supposedly ridiculing religious figures.

Underlying all this, though, is another problem. The British government's policy towards Saudi Arabia is clearly far out of line with British public opinion – and yet there seems to be no way the policy can be changed. Even if the Labour Party comes to power next May, there's no reason to suppose it will be different. In a totally unnecessary message yesterday, Labour leader Ed Miliband sent his "thoughts and condolences" to the Saudi royal family.

As I mentioned in a blog post earlier this week, whenever there's public criticism of Saudi Arabia, retired British ambassadors crawl out of the woodwork to defend the kingdom. Last week Sir Alan Munro – a former British envoy in Riyadh who was decorated by the late King Fahd for "meritorious service" to Saudi Arabia – claimed that floggings in the kingdom are rare and are "played up very much in the foreign media".

The Order of King Abdul Aziz

The latest contender for the "meritorious service" award (officially known as the Order of King Abdul Aziz) is Lord Green of Deddington who could be heard on BBC radio this morning (2 mins 6 sec into the programme) proclaiming that Britain and Saudi Arabia are natural allies:

"As far a Britain is concerned the Saudis have been very loyal friends to us for many many years. We are natural allies, actually, leaving aside the social aspects our interests and Saudi interests run parallel and Saudi Arabia is important to Britain and Britain is quite important to Saudi Arabia."

Aside from human rights issues, Britain's obsequious attitude towards Saudi Arabia conflicts with the government's increased efforts to combat terrorism. Earlier this month, prime minister Cameron vowed to confront "poisonous and fanatical" jihadist ideology "wherever it appears".

"Wherever" was something of an overstatement because he has so far shown no intention of confronting that ideology at its original source – in Saudi Arabia.

Cameron is also a "meritorious" servant of the kingdom, having received the Order of King Abdul Aziz in 2012.

   
Posted by Brian Whitaker
Saturday, 24 January 2015