Tory MP calling for British troops to risk death for Saudi Arabia is on the Kingdom's payroll

Tory MP calling for British troops to risk death for Saudi Arabia is on the Kingdom’s payroll | The Canary

Last Updated: April 21, 2016By Mike Sivier

While this is all very interesting, it seems to This Writer that we all know another MP who appears to enjoy a favourable – and reciprocal – relationship with the Saudis.

Here he is now:

David Cameron (and the Conservative Government) seems to have far too close a relationship with Saudi Arabia.

Conservative MP Rehman Chishti is calling for British troops to provide air cover to Saudi ground forces should they enter Syria. Meanwhile, according to parliamentary records, the MP for Gillingham and Rainham is being paid £2,000 a month as an adviser for the Riyadh-based King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies.

As Middle East Monitor reports, the institution’s Chairman is the ex-chief of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence services, Prince Turki Bin Al-Faisal. He served as intelligence chief from 1977-2001 and was known to bankroll jihadist groups in Afghanistan.

Chishti claims to advise on “international relations covering Europe and the Middle East”, despite the organisation’s website stating that none of its six research units involve Europe. The only nations listed are Saudi Arabia, Maghreb (north-west Africa) and Iran. So it’s hard to see exactly where Chishti’s advice comes in.

As well as cheerleading for favourable British military policy for the Saudis, the MP also peddles Saudi state propaganda in the House of Commons. The Shia cleric – Shaikh Ali Al-Nimr – was executed in January for peacefully demonstrating against the Saudi government. Yet Chishti channeled Saudi propaganda that the man was a terrorist with direct links to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. His only evidence was an article written by a convicted criminal with close ties to the Saudi government – Joseph Braude. And this article’s only evidence was ‘Saudi sources’.

The MP is currently the Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Saudi Arabia. Fellow Conservative MP Daniel Kawzynski is the Chair. In 2011, they both enjoyed a £3,000 a piece trip to the Kingdom, bankrolled by the Saudi government itself. They joined other MPs in meeting powerful Saudis such as Prince Turki and members of the Shura Council.

Source: Tory MP calling for British troops to risk death for Saudi Arabia, is on the Kingdom’s payroll | The Canary

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5 Comments

JohnDee April 21, 2016 at 2:58 am - Reply

“…we all know another MP who appears to enjoy a favourable – and reciprocal – relationship with the Saudis?…”

I know the answer to this one – it’s the Bush double act !
Oh no! Hang on a minute – they’re US politicians – not British MPs, aren’t they?
Terry Davies April 21, 2016 at 3:20 am - Reply

clearly human rights apply to tax evaders in the tory party. but they dont apply to saudi dissidents.
dont vote for any tory is the general rule to be adopted if you want to protect your relative in the military.
tories want to use the military like bouncers to bully and let cameron and cronies engratiate themselves with saudi rulers at tax payers expense.
weapons sold for profits will be those of arms dealers and share holder MPs who will squirrel profits away into offshore shares. this tax evasion will be done using the human right to privacy. w**ker walker, and cameron will be in their element licking the boots of saudi rulers who will be visiting london soon.!!!
casalealex April 21, 2016 at 8:32 am - Reply

Will Dodgy Dave come out and call this guy “a terrorist sympathiser”? Why should British troops be sent to fight for a country that are already supplied with arms from Britain to kill Syrians? They have been, and still, killing Yemenis with those same British arms!
David April 21, 2016 at 1:37 pm - Reply

I like the picture of Cameron bowing before some Saudi princeling. Actually, the Saudi royal family is self-styled and self- appointed: like most royal families, really.

What Rehman Chisti is really wanting our forces out in the middle east is that it will play well between him and the Saudis.
chriskitcher April 21, 2016 at 2:54 pm - Reply

Rotten to the core.