Saudi king appoints ‘Mr Everything’ as successor
Reforming and ambitious Prince, 31, with powers in defence, the economy and foreign affairs ousts cousin
PRINCE Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious 31-year-old defence minister, was made heir to the throne yesterday, replacing his older cousin Mohammed bin Nayaf and confirming the king’s endorsement of his plans to overhaul the kingdom’s economy and aggressively confront Iran.
He gained the title of crown prince at the expense of his older cousin, who was stripped of his position as first-inline to the throne and lost his job as Saudi Arabia’s interior minister.
The move ends any uncertainty over who will succeed King Salman, who is 81 and in poor health, and puts the future of Saudi Arabia in the hands of a young, modernising prince who could potentially rule for decades.
Prince Mohammed, often referred to by his initials “MBS”, became defence minister at the age of 29 but his father also gave him broad powers over the economy and on foreign affairs, earning him the nickname “Mr Everything”.
He has spearheaded an economic plan to try to wean Saudi Arabia off its dependence on foreign oil and to cut back on spending, angering some Saudi citizens and members of the royal family who found their government subsidies scaled back.
The prince has been in charge of Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in neighbouring Yemen, which has resulted in a bloody humanitarian disaster and a military stalemate, and was behind Riyadh’s recent moves to isolate its neighbour, Qatar.
He has also championed a policy of confronting regional rival Iran and yesterday Iranian state media denounced his ascension as a “soft coup” designed to consolidate power within King Salman’s branch of the royal family.
Prince Mohammed’s first priority was to try to smooth over tensions with his 57-year-old cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, who had been crown prince for two years before losing all his government roles yesterday.
The new heir and his ousted predecessor made a show of solidarity in front of the state television cameras, with Prince Mohammed kneeling in front of the older man and vowing: “We will not give up on taking your guidance and advice.” Mohammed bin Nayaf stated: “I am content.”
Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal also endorsed the new heir, tweeting that he pledged his allegiance to him.
News of Prince Mohammed’s promotion was accompanied by a constitutional change so that his son cannot be king, a gesture intended to reassure other parts of Saudi Arabia’s vast royal family. A nephew of Mohammed bin Nayaf was made interior minister.
Saudi Arabia has a complicated system of succession that does not usually run from father to son. Ibn Saud was the first ruler of the kingdom after its founding in 1932 but all six subsequent kings have been his sons, meaning the crown has passed from brother to brother.
“It’s a bold move and to the king’s credit that he’s been able to convince his brothers to side with him and move power on to the next generation,” said Ghanem Nuseibeh, the founder of Cor- nerstone Global Associates, a political risk firm.
The prince has eased some of Saudi Arabia’s restrictive social laws and hopes to one day reopen cinemas, which were closed in the 1970s. He is believed to also support a somewhat freer role for women, who are banned from driving and cannot travel without a male guardian. Prince Mohammed has a reputation for aggressive policy moves, especially when compared to Saudi Arabia’s usually slow and consensus-driven approach to governance.
Last year, he announced an economic blueprint known as Vision 2030, which is intended to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil and to breathe
life into its sclerotic private sector. Many observers doubt that the ambitious proposals can be met in the prince’s proposed time frame.
“I have heard from a lot of people that he’s very headstrong and has a reputation as an aggressive businessman, said Andrew Bowen, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “That’s created an impression that he can be brash and that he’s not as measured as his father.”
The prince has staked out a hard approach against Iran, saying there can be no dialogue with Tehran because its Shia regime wants to take over the Islamic world. “We won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead, we’ll work so that the battle is for them in Iran,” he has said.
He led his country into war against Shia rebels aligned with Iran in Yemen but the intervention has not gone as planned and after more than two years of fighting the Saudi-led coalition has been unable to dislodge rebel forces.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting and millions in Yemen are now on the brink of famine.
‘There ain’t no party like a Riyadh party” I told my friends as I set off. I was leading a delegation of MPS to what I saw as surely one of the most closed-off and secretive countries in the world – Saudi Arabia.
I was full of questions. Would the little garnet cross round my neck cause a diplomatic incident? Would any of the Saudi men actually speak to a woman leading a delegation? Awkward. I was going to have to wear an abaya – the long robe and headscarf of the Saudi women. What on earth does one wear underneath? The Moroccan ladies in the abaya shop on Edgware Road were very kind and, on learning I was off to Saudi Arabia, helped me pick an elegant black garment, and advised against short skirts underneath. I was then on my way and ready to feel oppressed.
Disappointment of my expectations was quick to arrive. As we got ready to land in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I donned my black abaya and prepared to feel the first real touches of oppression. My expectations were rudely shattered by the energetic young woman – a woman! – from the Saudi Embassy who met us, un-headscarfed with flowing hair, sporting an abaya of glorious colour, with her male colleagues following behind her. “Take your headscarf off!” she laughed.
Things in Saudi Arabia were not as I had been led to believe at all. Un-headscarved women in coffee shops would grab my arm and excitedly tell me how the Religious Police had been stripped of their powers. How just one year ago, things were quite different and that this time next year, things would have changed even more. This time next year there would be mixed-gender cinema, and music concerts… and already the head of the Saudi Stock Exchange is a woman.
As I stood outside the Victoria’s Secret lingerie shop in a Riyadh mall, faced with lacy underwear in the shop window, I felt distinctly cheated. Here was the secret Saudi Arabia the West never sees. The era of ever-more clamping down was evidently over and I had missed it. The thaw had begun.
The name on everyone’s lips was the young man largely responsible for all this, the young Deputy Crown Prince who has just been appointed first in line to the throne: Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Through film-set opulence and incense, we were led to meet the great man. And great he was. A towering physical presence, in his early thirties, bursting with energy and vision. Stopping occasionally to correct his poor interpreter, and jocularly intervening in immaculate English, he set out his vision for a modern Saudi Arabia. With his booming laugh, you got the impression that here was a man who was driving through change in his country using the sheer force of his intellect and personality.
Make no mistake – Saudi Arabia is a deeply complex country, with practices that we in the West find abhorrent. It is engaged as part of a pro-government coalition in Yemen’s civil war, with its immense human cost, and no easy answer. But these aspects are all we ever see in the West.
As I sat as a guest at Riyadh’s great camel festival, I reflected that I have never encountered a country changing so fast; albeit a precarious change, with powerful opponents among the radical Islamic groups. That is the secret Saudi I discovered, and the man behind it all is now next in line to be king.