The speeches of Margot Wallström, Sweden’s magnificently undiplomatic foreign minister, continue to reach those parts of the world that conventional platitudes cannot reach. Her remarks about the Saudi regime and its monstrous treatment of dissidents and women led the Saudis to withdraw their ambassador, cancel a speech Ms Wallström was due to give in front of the Arab League, and suspend the issue of business visas to all Swedes. Now the Saudis have decided to send their ambassador back to Stockholm, after King Carl Gustaf sent a personal envoy, a former defence minister, to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.

The row reveals Sweden’s government as deeply split on the price worth paying for its principled embrace of human rights. The trade minister Mikael Damberg said in February that so far from withdrawing from contact or boycotting countries with dismal records, the country would prioritise relations with them, since trade was an excellent way to promote human rights. Nor did Ms Wallström ever demand or suggest that there should be any kind of Swedish disengagement from the Saudi regime.

Big Swedish firms do more than £1bn in business with Saudi Arabia every year. Ikea, H&M, Ericsson, Volvo, Scania and Electrolux all sell civilian goods; LKAB, the state-owned mining firm which provides much of the employment above the Arctic Circle, ships 30% of its output to Saudi Arabia. Saab exports military equipment and would like to sell more. Sweden’s whole industrial establishment was ranged against Ms Wallström. Public opinion, however, was not.

The Saudis seem to have grasped that the ruling Social Democrats could not renew a controversial memorandum of understanding on arms exports with them. But they were offended by the way the decision was conveyed. They were still more offended by the fact that it was a woman condemning their pre-modern stand on human rights; this outrage spread across the Arab world. The UAE withdrew its Stockholm ambassador and the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned Ms Wallström’s “unacceptable interference” in internal affairs. This is classic bullying language.

Saudi Arabia has two malign exports – corruption, and a brutal and puritanical form of Islam. This needs to be borne in mind by any government that deals with it. Ms Wallström had previously served as a European commissioner, but the other countries of the EU, including the UK, were notably reluctant to spring to her aid. The Saudi ambassador’s return to Stockholm shows that this cowardice was unnecessary. The Saudis claim that the Swedes have apologised. A photo of Sweden’s special envoy bowing politely as he greets the minister of defence is captioned “Sweden says sorry”. But the minister denies, in terms, apologising for her remarks, and merely regrets any offence she may have caused. Although her words will have done nothing to stop Swedish companies strengthening the Saudi regime as much as they can, she has at least established that when Saudis row with European regimes, sometimes the story ends with Saudis, rather than Europeans, being forced to lie.