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scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

My colleague Mr Jones takes my post too seriously.

johnslat · Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 1:46 pm Post subject:

Dear Stephen,
Well, it's refreshing to hear about someone in the Foreign Service who actually cares about the citizens of his/her country.
I suspect, though, that your anecdote illustrates rather uncommon behavior.

"The British approach was articulated recently in the Commons by the Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell, who was asked to explain why the government was not more forceful in demanding justice for Sandy Mitchell and his colleagues.

"We do believe that pressure is most effectively undertaken by engaging the Saudi authorities in private, because we believe that publicity will be detrimental to the interests of the men," he said.

In Foreign Office parlance, Mr Rammell was explaining that the Saudis are so sensitive to criticism that it was not in Britain�s commercial or diplomatic interest to complain too loudly.

The government has not forgotten the experience in 1980 when the television film Death of a Princess prompted Saudi Arabia to withdraw its ambassador and cancel �200 million of arms contracts.

More recently, the jailing of the two British nurses, Lucille McLauchlan and Deborah Parry in 1996 for the alleged murder of their colleague, Yvonne Gilford, even though they were eventually pardoned, saw a �40 million loss to Britain�s arms industries."

http://news.scotsman.com/riyadhbombings/Concession-is-likely-to-improve.2450757.jp

Concern talks, but all too often money walks.

Regards,
John