The relationship between Margaret Thatcher and the Saudi royal family have been exposed in newly released documents.
The documents show the extent to which British ministers lobbied the Saudis to sign the £43bn al-Yamamah deal which saw them buy Tornado and Hawk aircrafts while passages reveal conversations in meetings had between the two countries.
Documents and passages have been tampered with, with some being withheld from public to suppress embarrassing disclosures.
One document refers to a meeting between British officials and Prince Sultan, the Saudi defense minister, in September 1985. It reads: “At the meeting, the prince indicated that, particularly in view of our willingness … [passage deleted] … there might be further UK orders in connection with construction work …”
The Yamamah deal, which includes Britain’s biggest arms dealer, BAE has been long criticized for the huge illicit payments made to Saudi royals. Tony Blair’s 2006 government had stopped the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the contract after pressure from the firm itself as well as the Saudis at the time. BAE later agreed to pay £300m in penalties in 2010, to end the investigation of corruption led by the US and British governments.
“Thatcher was a strong leader who wanted to expand the British economy. And since the most important aspect of the British economy was defense industry, they lobbied very much to sell their fighter jets to the Saudis. Back in 1985, it was a big deal worth 25bn pounds but eventually after its service in twenty years in 2005, it cost about 80/85 billion pounds”, Saeed al-Shehabi, a London-based political analysts told Press TV.
British officials had initially feared they would lose out on the contract to France and made their concerns public. Thatcher later publicly apologized to the late King Fahd for the comments made on his country and said she was delighted that “relations between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia are warm and friendly”.
Until the Yamamah deal was finally signed in September 1985, British officials expressed concern that France might persuade the Saudis to buy Mirage jets instead of Tornados.
She said: “I attach the very highest importance to maintaining and improving them, and I am convinced that the possibilities for cooperation between our two governments and peoples are very great indeed.
“I am particularly encouraged by Your Majesty’s welcome assurance that British press reporting on Saudi Arabia will not be allowed to influence our bilateral relations.”
As the deal was closing, Thatcher wrote: “Your Majesty proposed that the contract agreement should be between our two governments. I warmly support this proposal which I see as offering the opportunity develops still closer relations between our two countries at government level”.
The documents released emphasized the Saudi request to give the deal absolutely “no publicity”.Thatcher accepted the Kings demands saying: “You may be confident of our complete discretion”.
“In fact Tornado fighter jets were not used in combat mission and probably by now have become obsolete and Saudis are re-negotiating for a new deal to buy Typhoon jets from the UK. Of course, Britain made the arms deal despite knowing Saudi Arabia’s dictatorial regime in terms of human rights”, Shehabi said.
Officials in the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defense wrote: “The prime minister has instructed that there are to be no (no) leaks from the British side.” To this day the fine details of the Yamamah deal remains a secret and are understood to be the subject of National Audit Office report under protection.
The Saudi kingdom bought £7bn worth of Typhoon aircraft last year and remains Britain’s biggest arms market.
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