'Britain ignored 7/7 warnings'

Last Modified: 29 Oct 2007
By: Jonathan Rugman

Saudi monarch King Abdullah claims the Government ignored Saudi intelligence relating to the 2005 London bomb attacks.

The visit has already attracted protests over Saudi Arabia's human rights record but a Foreign Office minister insisted the countries have "shared values" and there was further embarrasment when the Foreign Secretary David Miliband had to pull out of a press conference with his Saudi counterpart to spend time with his newly-adopted son.

The King said: "We sent information but unfortunately no action was taken." He insisted his country passed on details to Britain which, according to him, could have averted the bombings in London on 7 July 2005.

British officials have insisted that the King's claims are "nonsense".

Most of the foreign jihadists fighting in Iraq are believed to be Saudi, 15 of the September 11 hijackers were Saudis and the country has executed 124 people this year, some by public beheading.

Women are not allowed to vote or drive, yet from The Mall to Heathrow, London has laid out the red carpet.

There was Rolls Royce treatment for a kingdom that buys Rolls Royce engines and intended to make amends for the deep offence caused by the allegation that members of the House of Saud had taken kickbacks from the biggest British arms deal ever signed. Even though Tony Blair called off the investigation.

'We have sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain but unfortunately no action was taken. And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy.'
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

Those new arms contracts were finally announced last month. Saudi Arabia promised £4.4bn for 72 Euro fighter jets.

But it is this arms trade, and the al-Yamamah scandal, that has prompted acting Liberal Democrats leader Vince Cable to boycott the visit.

Others have arranged protests on Saudi Arabia's human rights record, brought into focus seven years ago when a group of ex-pat British men said they were tortured into giving TV confessions of a bomb attack.