Boris Johnson plans Saudi Arabia visit to seek oil supply increase | Foreign policy

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Boris Johnson is expected to visit Saudi Arabia to push for an increase in oil output despite an outcry over the regime’s biggest ever mass execution and growing fears the prime minister may try to limit media scrutiny of the trip.

Downing Street would not confirm Johnson’s likely trip to Riyadh, but sources have said he wants to appeal to the Gulf state to increase its oil output to replace supplies from Russia.

Ahead of the planned trip, MPs are planning to raise concerns about Saudi Arabia’s execution of 81 men on Saturday. Crispin Blunt, a backbench Conservative MP, has secured an urgent question in the House of Commons.

Johnson’s official spokesperson said on Monday that the prime minister was concerned about all human rights abuses and opposed the death penalty.

“The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances, in every country, as a matter of principle, and we routinely raise human rights issues with other countries including Saudi Arabia and will be raising Saturday’s executions with the government in Riyadh,” he said.

There are also human rights concerns over Saudi Arabia’s role in the war in Yemen, after years of leading a coalition against Iran-backed rebels. More than a dozen UN agencies and international aid groups said on Monday that 161,000 people in the war-torn country were likely to experience famine over the second half of the year – a fivefold increase.

Despite No 10 insisting that the prime minister would take the opportunity to raise the issue of human rights, it appears Johnson is unlikely to allow open access to the media on any planned trip.

Prime ministers have traditionally always allowed UK leaders to accompany them when they travel abroad to meet foreigners on overnight stays. However, it is expected that any trip by Johnson will be limited to one broadcaster and one journalist from the newswires, known as the “pool” – which has been the arrangement for numerous trips that he has taken to European capitals in recent weeks.

Theresa May and Gordon Brown both took during very short visits to Saudi Arabia, raising the prospect that No 10 may be trying to set a new precedent in terms of transparency and media scrutiny.

Johnson has long had a personal relationship with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. In 2018, as foreign secretary, he wrote that Prince Mohammed was a reformer who “deserves our support”, adding: “I believe that the crown prince, who is only 32, has demonstrated by word and deed that he aims to guide Saudi Arabia in a more open direction.”

That was just six months before the murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which US intelligence agencies have since concluded was approved by Prince Mohammed.

Last year the crown prince was revealed to have texted Johnson personally to ask him to intervene to “correct” the Premier League’s “wrong” decision not to allow a £300m takeover of Newcastle United by a Saudi-led consortium.

Johnson asked Edward Lister, the then special envoy for the Gulf, to take up the issue, and Lord Lister reportedly told the prime minister: “I’m on the case. I will investigate.” The government did not have the power to prevent a Premier League decision but the deal eventually went through after undertakings that the Saudi government would not control the club.

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, insisted on Monday that Saudi Arabia was an “important” economic partner.

He told LBC: “We’ve had a longstanding relationship with the Saudi government where there’s always a very frank exchange. We don’t agree with their approach on human rights; We’re always right to call that out and to talk to them frankly about that.

“At the same time, it is also possible to have an economic relationship. You know, whether people like it or not, Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of crude oil and it’s important, especially at the time of a major global energy crisis, that we have these talks with them.”

Johnson has been focusing on the impending energy crisis in recent days, holding roundtable talks with oil and gas producers on Monday to discuss ways to increase production in the North Sea.

The Treasury has repeatedly ruled out a windfall tax on the companies despite them benefiting from higher oil prices, as the government wants to encourage them to invest more in extraction.

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