UK begins Parliamentary Inquiry into UK Policy with Bahrain and Saudi

UK Parliamentary Inquiry into UK Policy with Bahrain and Saudi gets under way
22 January, 2013 – Bahrain Justice and Development Movement

The first hearing session of the UK Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Inquiry into British policy with Saudi Arabia took place today with evidence from two former ambassadors to Bahrain. Robin Lamb, Ambassador 2003-2006 and Sir Roger Tomkys, Ambassador 1981-1984, gave evidence along side Jane Kinninmont from Chatham House and Dr. Neil Patrick from the Royal United Services Institute.

The committee itself consists of 11 members from the 3 major political parties, with all but one attending the hearing. Those present included Sir. Menzies Campbell MP, former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ann Clwyd MP who has been a long standing supporter of reform in Bahrain, Rory Stewart MP an expert in middle eastern affairs and others.

The inquiry, announced in October 2012, is mandated to study British policy with regards to the two Gulf States, whether its interests are being met and more generally what kind of a role it is playing. At the start of the hearing the Chair of the Committee, Richard Ottaway MP, outlined that this was not an inquiry into human rights abuses in these countries but very specifically UK policy.

With that in mind the first two individuals to answer questions were Ms. Kinninmont and Dr. Patrick, to look at UK’s role in the Gulf more generally, as well as specific to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain with Ms. Kinninmont focusing more on Bahrain whilst Dr. Patrick answered predominantly on Saudi.

In their opening remarks both highlighted the complexities of British policy in the Gulf in balancing interests, moral values and security concerns. Ms Kinninmont argued it is a difficult time for UK diplomats, but also a time of “heightened sensitivities amongst Gulf rulers”, citing the examples of many who have been imprisoned for criticizing monarchs.

She said that Britain is not doing itself any favours if it pretends that all is fine in the Gulf and there are no pressures from below for change. Ms. Kinninmont mentioned the recent speech of the Crown Prince at the Manama Dialogue in which he chose to thank Britain over the US that UK is indeed Bahrain’s closest ally. She said that Britain was prepared to be critical of Bahrain during the first days of the crackdown in February and March 2011, but has since maintained the same level of strong relations, describing this as “puzzling” since the crackdown has continued since then. ….more