A set of newly declassified documents reveal that former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher played a pivotal role in supplying £42bn worth of arms to Saudi Arabia. The files show that Thatcher personally met with Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd in order to persuade him to purchase fighter jets from British Aerospace rather than France. Yahoo News reports: Thatcher reportedly made a quick trip to Riyadh on 14 April 1985 to “smoke out the Saudis” and have lunch with the ruler of the country. At the time, Britain was attempting to close the Al-Yamamah deal — a £42bn ($55.3bn) contract with the oil-rich country, to sell them 30 British Hawk and 72 Tornado fighter jets. France was simultaneously trying to pitch its own contract for the sale of the Mirage aircraft. Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud — an anglophile and the influential Saudi ambassador to Washington — told the Foreign Office that the king preferred their deal and invited Thatcher to visit Riyadh for a talk. According to the documents released by the National Archives at Kew, the defence secretary at the time, Michael Heseltine was confident the meeting between Thatcher and the king would clinch the deal. Heseltine’s private secretary, [...]
