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THE new generation of Tory MPs are quickly embracing the old tradition of friendly visits to Saudi Arabia.
Alex Burghart MP (Brentwood & Ongar) and Leo Docherty MP (Aldershot), both newly elected in 2017, joined Simon Hoare MP (North Dorset), who was elected in 2015, on a £7,800 per person five-day trip in September to the Saudi capital of Riyadh, paid for by the Saudi sheikhs. This was Hoare’s second Saudi visit this year. He went on a “fact-finding“ mission funded by the sheikhdom in April.
The latest register of MPs’ interests describes the trip as taken to meet Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, along with local officials and businessmen to “support and understand the British-Saudi bilateral relationship.” Before he was elected, Burghart was one of Theresa May’s advisers, and her “Policy Unit lead on social justice.”
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