BORIS’ SAUDI FREEBIE DAYS BEFORE MURDER
£14k junket paid for by regime
JAMAL Khashoggi may have had only moments to live after this CCTV image captured him.
Turkish prosecutors now say the journalist, 59, seen here entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, was strangled as soon as he went in. The killing of the critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shocked the world. But yesterday Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK’s response had to be careful as “jobs are at stake.” BORIS Johnson enjoyed a £14,000 freebie to Saudi Arabia just before journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
The ex-Foreign Secretary flew to Jeddah on September 19 and his lavish hotels, flights and dinners were paid for by the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
Less than two weeks later, Mr Khashoggi was killed in the kingdom’s Istanbul Consulate.
He declared the trip on an MPs’ register, saying it was “to promote education for women and girls”.
A source close to Mr Johnson insisted he was a
“vocal critic” of Khashoggi’s murder, branding the killing “barbaric” earlier this month. The source added the trip did not cost UK taxpayers a penny.
It emerged yesterday that Mr Johnson blew almost £27,000 of public money on his hastilyarranged trip to Afghanistan, which allowed him to skip a Commons vote to expand Heathrow Airport.
Staff costs for Johnson’s three-hour visit to Kabul came to £19,336.
But the Foreign Office has now published Mr Johnson’s costs of £7,482, including air fare, hotel and food. It adds up to £26,818 of taxpayer cash. He had been expected to back Cabinet approval of the expansion but had told his Uxbridge constituents, near Heathrow, he would fight to
stop it.
Johnson