Downing Street caved in to corrupt prince's threats

A Saudi prince, who is alleged to have received £1 billion in payments in the BAE Systems arms deal, personally lobbied Downing Street to get it to drop a criminal inquiry into the contract, claim senior Whitehall officials, writes David Leppard.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, head of Saudi Arabia’s national security council, met Tony Blair last July at the height of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) inquiry into claims that BAE had illegally paid huge sums to members of the Saudi royal family.

Bandar is said by a second senior government official to have told Jonathan Powell, Blair’s chief of staff, that the Saudis would pull out of the arms deal, which involved the sale of 72 Typhoon jets, unless the investigation was stopped. He also said intelligence ties in the war on terror would be cut. Link