Downing Street has announced that the government is to cancel a £5.9m contract to provide a training programme for prisons in Saudi Arabia.
In a significant victory for the justice secretary, Michael Gove – whose attempts to cancel the project had been resisted by David Cameron and the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond – the prime minister’s spokeswoman said the contract has been cancelled following a review.
The spokeswoman said: “This bid to provide the additional training to Saudi Arabia has been reviewed and the government has decided that it won’t be proceeding with the bid. The review has been ongoing following the decision that was announced earlier in September to close down the Just Solutions International branch of the Ministry of Justice that was providing some of these services.”
In another significant development, Downing Street also announced that the prime minister is to write to the Saudi authorities to raise his concerns about the case of Karl Andree, the 74-year-old grandfather who is due to face 360 lashes for transporting homemade wine in his car.
The No 10 spokeswoman said: “This is an extremely concerning case. We have been providing consular assistance to Mr Andree and to his family since he was first arrested. We have raised the case repeatedly in recent weeks. » | Nicholas Watt and Alan Travis | Tuesday, October 13, 2015
THE GUARDIAN: Saudi prisons contract: Gove and Hammond clash over deal: Foreign secretary accuses cabinet colleague of ‘naivety’ for seeking to withdraw from £5.9m bid to provide services to Saudi penal system » | Nadia Khomami | Tuesday, October 13, 2015
THE GUARDIAN: Michael Gove emerges as human rights hero over bid to scrap Saudi prisons deal: Fresh details of justice secretary’s cabinet battle with Philip Hammond casts him as improbable champion of human rights » | Alan Travis Home affairs editor | Tuesday, October 13, 2015
