The Saudi crown prince faced heavy criticism from British opposition figures at the start of a three-day visit to the UK that includes lunch with the Queen and dinner with the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge.

Mohammed bin Salman was accused of funding extremism in the UK, committing human rights abuses domestically, and breaching international humanitarian law in Yemen, where Riyadh has intervened in a war that has killed thousands of civilians and driven the Middle East’s poorest country to the brink of famine.



Campaigners against the war also rallied near parliament and several hundred held a protest outside the gates of Downing Street. A man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after an egg was thrown at police vehicle as Bin Salman’s motorcade arrived.

In his most unbridled attack yet on Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the three-year Yemen conflict, Jeremy Corbyn said during prime minister’s questions the country was responsible for putting millions at risk of starvation.

The British military was colluding in an unlawfully conducted war, the Labour leader said, claiming UK personnel were directing the Saudi military campaign from Riyadh.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, condemned ministers for rolling out the red carpet and providing the equivalent of a state visit to “a dictatorial head of a theocratic, medieval regime”. He called on the UK government to demand the Saudis end the systematic bombing of civilian targets in Yemen, which the crown prince initiated.

The shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, speaking in the House of Commons, accused ministers of “bowing and scraping” to the crown prince.

Britain’s red carpet for the Saudi ruler is shameless | Emily Thornberry Read more

Bin Salman, Thornberry said, was “the architect of the Saudi airstrikes and blockade in Yemen, funding jihadi groups in the Syrian civil war, ordering his guards to beat up the prime minister of Lebanon and in the eight months since he became crown prince doubling the number of executions”.

“We are supposed to ignore all that just because he is to allow Saudi women to drive, just as they can everywhere else in the world. The British government pretends to care about human rights and war crimes but when it comes to Saudi Arabia in Yemen there is nothing but a shameful silence.”

The UK government’s sole concern, she said, was how to plug the hole in growth and trade because of Brexit.

Bin Salman’s trip – during which he will also visit Cairo and New York – is the crown prince’s first foreign tour as heir to the Saudi throne. It is seen as his opportunity to project the kingdom as a reforming, youthful society determined to assume the status of a major G20 economic power.

Ministers had expected criticism about the scale of the hospitality offered to Bin Salman, but the level of hostility from senior opposition figures will have taken them aback.



The British royal family has been deployed in an effort to secure major commercial contracts, which has created some unease among Conservative MPs who think the UK should at least be seen as even-handed in the bitter diplomatic dispute between the Saudis and Qatar. A coalition of UK human rights groups is planning to protest against the visit outside Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon.

In a statement after the crown prince visited Downing Street, Number 10 said that Theresa May had raised her “deep concerns at the humanitarian situation in Yemen.”.

May welcomed recent reforms allowing Saudi women to drive cars and attend cinemas and sporting events, and said the UK would support efforts to “intensify these reforms, particularly on women’s rights, and on universal human rights,” the statement said.

Number 10 said the case of Raif Badawi – the Saudi activist sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for campaigning for free speech in the autocratic kingdom – was raised in the meeting.

The Downing Street protest was organised by a coalition of groups, including the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and Stop the War Coalition. Several hundred protestors chanted “Hands off Yemen. Stop the bombing now” and “Don’t make Yemen live in fear. Saudi Prince not welcome here.”

The shadow international development secretary, Kate Osamor, told the crowd: “The British government should not be rolling out the red carpet for Mohammed bin Salman”.

There were 22 million people in Yemen needing aid and protection, she said . “Without a shadow of doubt Saudi Arabia appears to be breaching international law,” she added.

The visit has attracted fierce criticism. Campaign group Reprieve has said executions in Saudi Arabia had doubled under Bin Salman with 133 executions in the eight months after his appointment as crown prince compared to 67 in the eight months preceding. Reprieve also expressed concerns about cyber offences in Saudi Arabia, claiming prosecutors use anti-cybercrime laws to criminalise online dissent, and prohibit a wide category of internet activity.

Its UK director Kaye Allen said: “We’d like to see Theresa May finally show some backbone in the UK’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. Mrs May and her ministers should challenge the Saudi authorities over their atrocious human rights record, not swallow the unconvincing spin from Riyadh.”



May has defended the red-carpet treatment for the crown prince, saying the close counter-extremism alliance with the Saudis had saved hundreds of lives in Britain. She said UK pressure had led the Saudis to lift the blockade of the Houthi-held Yemeni port of Hodeidah in December and insisted the Saudi intervention had been backed by UN resolutions.

Referencing alleged British collusion in the Yemen civil war, she said: “We have encouraged the Saudi government to ensure that when there are allegations that activity has taken place which is not in line with international humanitarian law they investigate that, they learn the lessons from it.”