David Cameron will embark on a low-key arms trip to the Gulf on Monday in an attempt to persuade regional powers upset by Britain's response to the Arab spring to buy more than 100 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets. The deals could be worth more than £6bn to Britain.
The prime minister will fly to a major UAE military airbase on a mission to patch up relations with leaders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where major British businesses such as BP and BAE have important interests.
Cameron will join forces with senior political and military figures from the UAE to inspect Typhoons at Al Minhad airbase, which is used as an air bridge for British forces flying between the UK and Afghanistan. Britain hopes to persuade Gulf leaders to buy 100 Typhoons on top of the 72 bought by Saudi Arabia.
The looming confrontation between Iran and its regional adversaries will also feature heavily in Cameron's talks with leaders in the Sunni-dominated Gulf countries. Britain could base Typhoons, built by a European consortium that includes BAE Systems, in the UAE if relations with Tehran deteriorate.
The prime minister, who is irritated by claims that he uses his overseas trips to sell defence equipment to countries with questionable human rights records, has made arrangements to minimise the media coverage of the trip. » | Nicholas Watt and Ian Black | Monday, November 05, 2012
