UK trade summit in Saudi Arabia accused of promoting firms linked to senior Tories | Conservatives

Oliver Dowden’s flagship government trade summit in Saudi Arabia has been criticized for helping to promote businesses linked to a string of senior Conservativesincluding colleagues and former party chairman Ben Elliott.

The Deputy Prime Minister was in Riyadh this week to launch the government-backed Great Futures campaign to boost British trade with Saudi Arabiadespite the Gulf country’s controversial record on repression of women and LGBT people.

Dowden led the trip for 450 British delegates along with Culture Secretary Lucy Fraser and Science Secretary Michelle Donnellan, while Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was in Riyadh for trade talks on Tuesday. Rishi Sunak recorded a video message of support for the summit.

Among the UK delegates were three prominent Conservative peers employed by firms attending the Riyadh summit: Joe Johnson, a former education secretary who chairs FutureLearn, an education business, Philip Hammond, a former chancellor who chairs of an urban development firm called Innovo, which is sponsoring the event, and Eddie Lister, Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff, who is an unpaid director of the Saudi-British Joint Business Council and is employed by two of its members.

Jo Johnson, a former universities minister now a Conservative peer, was filmed signing a memorandum of understanding with a Saudi organization at the summit on behalf of FutureLearn and spoke on the main stage as part of a panel, while Lister also spoke on an event stage on infrastructure.

Hammond hosted a side event on behalf of the Saudi-British Joint Business Council, where he is an unpaid advisory board member, and was accompanied by Dominic Johnson, the trade secretary and fellow Conservative.

Campaign groups called for more transparency about the event, with Unlock Democracy’s Tom Brake saying: “With a number of prominent party bigwigs attending the Riyadh summit and supported in their efforts by the UK government, full transparency is needed about who was invited to attend, why and the expenses.’

Rose Whiffen of Transparency International UK: “Those in power should always avoid the perception that they are giving access and influence to their friends and supporters.”

Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the Conservatives had “serious questions to answer” about what appeared to be a clear conflict of interest, while Labor MP Fabian Hamilton, a member of the foreign affairs committee, said Dowden has questions to answer about whether the summit “helped launch business for his Tory friends”.

Hammond said it was “absurd” to criticize the summit for the participation of Conservatives. “These missions are open to all UK businesses. You certainly don’t suggest that having any connection with a Conservative should make a business ineligible… DIT’s job is to promote British trade. That’s what this mission was doing.

He said he had not flown on a government-organized flight, that his role at the Saudi-British Business Council was unpaid and that Innovo was one of many sponsors of the Great Futures event.

Lister said criticism of the meeting was “nonsense”, adding: “I am a director of the Saudi-British Business Council and I attended in that capacity and my role is to promote British business in Saudi Arabia. I was talking entirely about construction and I have no personal interest in any construction in Saudi Arabia.

Other prominent figures linked to the Conservatives to attend include Ben Elliott, a former Tory leader and former party fundraiser who runs luxury concierge service Quintessentially. He attended a ceremony, sitting at a table with Lucy Fraser, the culture minister, and the Saudi tourism minister.

Amanda Staveley, who co-owns Newcastle United Football Club with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which is also a conservative donor and has strong ties to investors in the Middle East, also attended the event and spoke on a panel.

Asked about the presence of Conservative-linked firms at the meeting, a government spokesman said: “Great Futures participants were all British firms invited through a rigorous and politically impartial process based on their potential to expand through a strengthened UK-Saudi economic partnership.”

“The summit was attended by a number of high profile British and Saudi business, cultural, creative industries and government figures.

“Great Futures is the UK’s largest trade delegation for the past decade with more than 450 UK participants. It helps to grow the economy and create more jobs in the UK by promoting British business.”

The government did not respond to a request for the cost of the summit, but has previously claimed that such meetings deliver a return on investment in terms of securing new investment for the UK.