The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)

Saudi stop helped to snatch arms deal for UK

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Previously secret government files reveal how officials helped former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher carefully manage negotiatio­ns with the Saudis to land the UK’s biggest ever arms deal.

In April 1985 Mrs Thatcher visited Saudi Arabia on her way back from a tour of south-east Asia – a stopover that helped clinch the notorious AlYamamah contract.

The Saudis had been leaning towards buying fighter aircraft from the French, but Mrs Thatcher lobbied hard on behalf of British industry and undertook a series of negotiatio­ns with the Saudi royal family to seal the deal.

The Al-Yamamah deal proved highly controvers­ial from the moment it was signed by Saudi Defence Minister Prince Sultan and then Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine in 1985.

Anti-arms trade campaigner­s were appalled that Britain was supplying military hardware to a regime with a reputation for human rights abuses and torture, and allegation­s emerged that the contract had been won through bribery payments.

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