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Middle East

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. In fact, the other day I had discussions with the right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), who is extremely upset about the treatment that one of his constituents has received in Saudi Arabia. I have assured him that I will set up a meeting for him to speak with the Saudi ambassador about the issue. Of course we need to challenge the Saudis. They are our friends and if we are to have a healthy relationship, we will sometimes need to challenge them. That is an intrinsic ingredient of a healthy relationship. We should show mutual respect, but challenge when we need to. I spoke to the Minister about the huge opportunities that we saw for British companies in Saudi Arabia in construction, finance, mining, oil exploration and education. I was not trying to put him in a tight spot regarding Lord Jones of Birmingham, but I would like him at some stage to consider having an envoy specifically to promote British business in Saudi Arabia. I am conscious of the time and know that other hon. Members want to get in, so I will make two brief final points. The first is slightly controversial, but as we are speaking on middle east affairs, let me say how concerned I am about the judicial review of BAE Systems’ deals with Saudi Arabia. The Minister may be aware of an organisation called the Campaign Against Arms Trade. Frankly, I am appalled by these unaccountable groups—I do not know who funds CAAT, but it is an extremely murky body. I want to know why CAAT is spending so much money on challenging the Government over BAE Systems, when so many British jobs are dependent on that vital trade and when there are so many problems in our country such as poverty—we are about to talk about poverty in Scotland. This murky organisation is trying to destroy British jobs by challenging the Government and BAE Systems over our vital trade links.