Saudi king accuses UK of ignoring tip-off which could have stopped London bombings

by UK Daily Mail - October 29, 2007

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has attacked Britain's record on terrorism - and accused the Government of ignoring a tip-off which may have averted the 2005 London bombings.

In an astonishing attack, the monarch claimed his country had passed on information that could have stopped the atrocity but it was ignored.

The King's outspoken comments were made in a BBC interview ahead of a state visit to the UK this week.

His presence in the country is already mired in controversy with protestors planning mass demonstrations and Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable boycotting an official function.

In a scathing critique of the ongoing battle against terrorism, King Abdullah said the fight needed much more effort by countries such as Britain and that al Qaida continued to be a big problem for his country.

"We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain but unfortunately no action was taken. And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy," he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Liberal Democrat acting leader Vince Cable yesterday took the highly unusual step of announcing that he would be boycotting a visit which, he said, should not be taking place.

It also emerged today that Foreign Secretary David Miliband has pulled out of a meeting with Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud.

But his decision was nothing to do with the controversial visit as he has gone on leave after he and his wife Louise adopted a new baby.

A mass demonstration is planned outside the Saudi embassy in London later in the week in protest at the kingdom's human rights record.

Mr Cable said that he was boycotting the visit - which begins formally tomorrow - in protest at the corruption scandal over the infamous Al Yamamah arms deal.

In a letter to the Saudi ambassador, he said: "I have introduced three debates in Parliament this year expressing serious concerns over the Al Yamamah contract and the corruption allegedly involved.

"I have, in my arguments, also been very critical of members of the Saudi royal family and the Saudi record on human rights, including its maltreatment of British citizens.

"In my opinion, it is quite wrong for the British Government to have proposed a state visit at this time."

It is normal practice for opposition party leaders to be invited to attend the main events involved in a state visit, including the state banquet hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Lib Dem leadership candidate Chris Huhne backed Mr Cable's boycott, saying: "The accolade of a full state visit is quite wrong. We are feting the reactionary leader of a society that discriminates against women, tortures prisoners, conducts public executions, amputates limbs as a punishment, and bans freedom of expression, assembly and religion. Saudi Arabia's human rights record is atrocious.

"Our intimate relationship with this regime is also corrupting our own institutions. It was Saudi pressure that forced the abandonment by the Serious Fraud Office of the criminal inquiry into bribery over the al-Yamamah contract, the biggest arms deal in history.

"A report by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons has even been suppressed, which has never happened before.

"Gordon Brown and the Labour Government have come a shamefully long way from the brave morning in 1997 when Robin Cook as Labour's first foreign secretary promised an ethical dimension to our foreign policy."

Mr Cable's decision follows the controversy which erupted last year when Tony Blair halted a long-running Serious Fraud Office inquiry into the £40 billion Al Yamamah deal signed by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

Mr Blair argued that Saudi security co-operation in the fight against international terrorism could be jeopardised if the investigation continued.

Critics however claimed that he was more concerned that Britain could lose out on a fresh £20 billion contract to supply the Saudis with 72 Eurofighters.

The Conservatives branded Mr Cable's boycott as "juvenile gesture politics", while the Foreign Office said only that it was a matter for the Lib Dem acting leader.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said that the decision to invite King Abdullah now reflected the "long-standing friendship" between the two nations.

She said that British and Saudi interests were "intertwined and inseparable" across a range of issues from counter-terrorism to ensuring stability in the Middle East.

King Abdullah faces further controversy later in the week. Left-wing Labour MP John McDonnell said that protesters would be staging a mass demonstration outside the Saudi Embassy on Wednesday.

"The British people will be aghast at the Government entertaining on a state visit one of the most prominent anti-democratic and human rights- abusing leaders in the world," he said.

"Why is it that in the same breath the Prime Minister condemns the lack of democracy in Burma and the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe but remains silent when it comes to the Saudi dictatorship?"