Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, received a truly royal welcome in London this month. Although the crown prince's three-day visit was not a state occasion (such an honour is reserved solely for heads of state), the programme showed that the full attention of the British political establishment and royal family was given to the young prince, from an audience with the Queen and dinner with the Prince of Wales to extensive discussions with Prime Minister Theresa May, briefings with security and intelligence agencies and meetings with senior business leaders and members of Parliament.
The atmosphere of the short visit was overwhelmingly positive and some $91 billion of mutual trade deals were discussed, including a second batch of Typhoon fighter jets worth about $14bn. This aircraft has proved its capabilities in Yemen with the Royal Saudi Air Force and the British government's determination to maintain its defence relationship with the Kingdom shows the strength of the UK-Saudi alliance.
I support this relationship because I have seen for myself the ballistic missile threat that the kingdom faces on its southern border with Yemen. If the Iran-backed Houthi militia become entrenched in northern Yemen (as Hezbollah have done in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq), that is a threat to Britain’s security as well as to the security of the GCC.
But security issues did not dominate the visit and disquiet over the Yemen conflict were muted. The media narrative was dominated by the ambition of the crown prince's Vision 2030 – his hugely ambitious plan to reform and diversify the Saudi economy (the largest in the Arab world) and modernise and liberalise its society.
He talked of this when we met. The crown prince is a tall, imposing man with a full beard, firm handshake and broad grin. A workaholic with a restless intellect, endless drive and huge energy, he fizzes with ideas when discussing the future of his country and displays a mastery of detail.
The challenge facing him is huge but what the kingdom needs is strong, youthful leadership. What young people of Saudi Arabia (about 70 per cent of a population of 20 million are under 30) are looking for is freedom from orthodoxy and the social constraints of religious conservatism. Change has begun; women will be permitted to drive this year and entertainment such as cinemas and concerts – which were part of life in the kingdom until the 1970s – are making a comeback. Prince Mohammed's reform is balanced against the need to appease religious conservatives in the Kingdom and he cannily pitches his reform agenda as a return to a more traditional, moderate form of Islam. As he said: “There were musical concerts in Makkah in the 1970s. Does that mean those people were not good Muslims? No. Our people want to return to a normal way of life. I am a family man, I want the same thing.”
He is winning out against more stifling conservatism and is not afraid to take on the elite. Corruption is being stamped out, starting with members of the extended royal family, who were detained at the Ritz Carlton. The crown prince's approach is popular among Saudis I have spoken to. "If you want to clean the stairs, you start at the top," said one.
The kingdom is an essential ally for Great Britain and the visit succeeded in showing the crown prince that we want to turbo-charge our relationship with the Kingdom and help him succeed in reforming his country.
But it is the Saudi-US relationship that will be the defining one for his leadership – and the 20-day duration of his stay is a clear marker of the importance he places on it. In Donald Trump, the crown prince has found a natural ally who shares his strategic priorities for the Middle East: containing Iran and defeating terrorism and religious extremism in all in forms, including the Muslim Brotherhood.
These shared objectives will bring the Kingdom and the US closer than ever before, an alliance that will not be undermined by US concern over either the Qatar dispute or the Yemen intervention. Now that John Bolton is National Security Adviser and Mike Pompeo Secretary of State, Mr Trump will have space to follow his hawkish instincts to the full. Nor will Congress provide a block. The Senate voted down a resolution brought forward by Bernie Sanders last week to stop US support for Saudi operations in Yemen.
Indeed, seeing Mr Trump with the crown prince reminded me of the meeting between the founder of Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz ibn Saud (the crown prince's grandfather) and former president Franklin Roosevelt in February 1945, on board USS Quincy in the Suez Canal. Back then, the terms of the relationship were clear: Saudi oil for American security. Defence is still a critical part of the relationship (as the $12.5bn arms sales on Mr Trump's picture board showed when they met) but the terms of the relationship are now broader. Prince Mohammed needs American support to modernise the kingdom and move the Saudi population from being consumers to producers.
His plan will set the course for the modern development of Saudi Arabia well beyond 2030 and perhaps for the next half-century. His time in London and the US has shown the world he has the willing allies he needs to make it a reality.
Leo Docherty is the MP for Aldershot and a member of the defence committee in the House of Commons.
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Match info:
Manchester City 2
Sterling (8'), Walker (52')
Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')
FA Cup semi-final draw
Coventry City v Manchester United
Manchester City v Chelsea
- Games to be played at Wembley Stadium on weekend of April 20/21.
‘White Elephant’
Director: Jesse V Johnson
Stars: Michael Rooker, Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Olga Kurylenko
Rating: 3/5
Day 4, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Lahiru Gamage appeared to have been hard done by when he had his dismissal of Sami Aslam chalked off for a no-ball. Replays suggested he had not overstepped. No matter. Two balls later, the exact same combination – Gamage the bowler and Kusal Mendis at second slip – combined again to send Aslam back.
Stat of the day Haris Sohail took three wickets for one run in the only over he bowled, to end the Sri Lanka second innings in a hurry. That was as many as he had managed in total in his 10-year, 58-match first-class career to date. It was also the first time a bowler had taken three wickets having bowled just one over in an innings in Tests.
The verdict Just 119 more and with five wickets remaining seems like a perfectly attainable target for Pakistan. Factor in the fact the pitch is worn, is turning prodigiously, and that Sri Lanka’s seam bowlers have also been finding the strip to their liking, it is apparent the task is still a tough one. Still, though, thanks to Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed, it is possible.
Company Profile
Name: Direct Debit System
Started: Sept 2017
Based: UAE with a subsidiary in the UK
Industry: FinTech
Funding: Undisclosed
Investors: Elaine Jones
Number of employees: 8
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
KEY DATES IN AMAZON'S HISTORY
July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
2011: The Amazon Appstore for Google's Android is launched. It is still unavailable on Apple's iOS
2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
2017: Amazon acquires Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its biggest acquisition
2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
