Why is the government so keen for Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, to visit Britain? Or, as the television comedian and interviewer Mrs Merton might have put it to Rishi Sunak: ‘So, what first attracted you to the stupendously wealthy Saudi leader?’
Bin Salman’s visit is expected to take place this autumn but as yet there is no firm date. The precise timing will be up to the Saudis, with Britain reduced to playing the part of an anxious host desperate to please.
Global leaders including Sunak appear to have no real measure of the man they’re dealing with
This would be the first visit by the crown prince (universally referred to as MBS) since the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. A declassified CIA report concluded that he had authorised the killing, something that he and his government have always denied. At the time, Britain expressed outrage at the murder.
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