The Observer view on Britain’s unedifying alliance with Saudi Arabia

Britain’s decision to join the Syria bombing has been welcomed by regional participants in the international coalition fighting Islamic State (Isis) terrorists, notably by the unelected rulers of Saudi Arabia. But this close martial association with one of the world’s most repressive, undemocratic and frankly unpleasant regimes, notwithstanding a long history of bilateral ties, should not necessarily be welcomed by Britain.

Speaking on Channel 4 News in October, David Cameron was pressed to justify his enthusiasm for the Saudi connection. “We have a relationship with Saudi Arabia and if you want to know why I’ll tell you why. It’s because we receive from them important intelligence and security information that keeps us safe. The reason… is our own national security,” he declared, adding that a Saudi tip-off had helped foil a bomb attack in Britain during his premiership.

Yet an equally strong, if not stronger, argument can be made that Saudi Arabia, far from being a valuable ally, itself represents a serious direct and indirect threat to Britain’s security, interests and values. Its role in Syria, for example, is a prime cause for concern. After joining the anti-Isis coalition formed by Barack Obama last year with great fanfare, Riyadh has gradually shifted its military’s attention elsewhere. Saudi warplanes are now mostly engaged in a destabilising, hugely costly fight with Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, not with Isis in Syria or Iraq.

There are persistent claims, flatly rejected by Riyadh, that the Saudi state has turned a blind eye, over many years, to the funding by wealthy Saudi individuals of Isis and similarly objectionable Sunni Muslim armed groups in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. In the run-up to last week’s Commons vote, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, demanded Mr Cameron pay more attention to the sources of Isis’s finance and weapons: “Who is funding Isis? Who is arming Isis?… You have to ask questions about the arms that everyone has sold in the region, the role of Saudi Arabia in this.”