Political relations between UK and Saudi Arabia

This file is Part B in a sequence of files relating to political relations between Saudi Arabia and the UK. It contains correspondence concerning:

• HMG’s planned overtures to Saudi Arabia, both politically and commercially, to improve relations, including a mission from the Ministry of Defence concerning the National Guard Battle Group Development Scheme; Saudi Arabian efforts to frustrate this project due to its displeasure at British actions in the Gulf; and HMG’s re-evaluation of its efforts to improve relations in light of this snub
• The visit of Sir Harold Beeley and Michael Adams to Saudi Arabia on behalf of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU); and HMG’s concern for the mixing of CAABU business and Beeley’s commercial interests in Unigulf Services Limited on the visit
• The visit of Peter Tapsell MP to Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia; and his audience with the Ruler of Saudi Arabia King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
• The invitation from the Saudi Arabian Government to four British MPs to visit Saudi Arabia
• The British Ambassador in Saudi Arabia W Morris’s meeting with Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud over Saudi relations with Abu Dhabi, its shared border, and Buraimi
• The farewell calls of Morris on the King and various Saudi dignitaries; and his replacement as Ambassador by A K Rothnie
• The interview given to Saudi journalists by Ivor Richard MP, which appeared in the Saudi English language newspaper Replica, concerning Arab-Israeli affairs and the Gulf
• The personal approach by Omar Saqqaf to Rothnie lamenting the state of Anglo-Saudi relations; and HMG’s consideration of this as an opportunity to improve relations, especially in light of closer Anglo-Egyptian and Saudi-Egyptian relations