Pragmatism sometimes dictates that British ministers and civil servants need to speak with representatives of the world's least pleasant regimes: Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Colonel Gaddafi of Libya, President Ahmadinejad of Iran, for example.
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A repugnant visit
Pragmatism sometimes dictates that British ministers and civil servants need to speak with representatives of the world's least pleasant regimes: Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Colonel Gaddafi of Libya, President Ahmadinejad of Iran, for example. The same applies to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. After all, the desert kingdom contains more than one-quarter of the world's oil reserves, more than 20,000 Britons work there and, in the UK, many more rely on Saudi orders. Saudi Arabia also holds an important strategic position in the fragile powder keg of Middle East politics. Genuine British-Saudi two-way trade and co-operation are welcome.
