Boris deepens Cabinet row by insisting Saudi Arabia should know what Britain thinks about its bad actions
The Foreign Secretary said he believes in “candour” between the two countries
BORIS Johnson deepened a Cabinet row last night by insisting it was important to tell Saudi Arabia what Britain thinks about its bad actions.
On an official visit to the Middle East kingdom, the Foreign Secretary said he believes in “candour” between the two countries.
His remark came just hours after the Defence Secretary called on him to stop “moralising in public”.
A bitter row exploded between Boris and Theresa May last week that was only resolved with face to face peace talks in No10.
The PM publicly slapped him down for accusing Riyadh of “puppeteering” in the Middle East and fighting “proxy wars” in Yemen and Syria.
But the Foreign Secretary won the support of most Tory MPs for his criticisms.
While reinforcing Britain’s long-standing policy to back Saudi Arabia in the civil war, Boris also made it clear yesterday he could continue to speak out.
Mr Johnson added: “As far as Yemen is concerned, Britain supports the Saudi-led campaign to restore the legitimate government and we have continued our dialogue on the conduct of this operation.
“Of course, we continue, like everybody in this room and around the world to have a deep concern for the suffering of the people of Yemen.”
Sources close to Mr Johnson said his meetings with Saudi sheikhs were “warm and constructive” and the Yemen row never came up.
Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said: “There are no mixed messages that we are getting from Britain. Britain is an ally of Saudi Arabia’s”.
Earlier, defence supremo Michael Fallon was lampooned for falsely trying to blame the media for making up the dispute.
But in a dig at Boris, he also told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “We can’t keep moralising in public about Saudi Arabia.
“If you want to bring about change in Saudi Arabia then you have got to work with Saudi Arabia and we are doing that.”