Recipients at the West Sussex festival in July 2021 included the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and Conservative MP Nigel Evans, Honorary Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on UK-Qatar Relations. In the 12 years since the tiny, gas-rich state was announced as the host of the 2022 World Cup, reigniting scrutiny over the oppression of LGBTQ+ people and its questionable human rights record, Qatar has doubled down on strengthening its decade-long friendship with British politicians. At least 58 British MPs have been flown to Doha at the emirate’s expense since it was awarded in 2010, according to a Guardian analysis of public records. These trips cost over £400,000 – more than £250,000 in the last year alone. This is in addition to the £4,000 of food, drink and accommodation donated to the foursome of MPs that July day at Goodwood, which was renamed in 2015 as part of a 10-year sponsorship deal, courtesy of Qatar’s Ministry of Sport and its embassy in the UK . During the same period, ministers received ornaments, a carpet and luxury rugs from Qatar-owned Fortnum & Mason and Harrods, while the emir sent Boris Johnson a watch in 2019 for his appointment as prime minister. In some cases, Observer analysis found last month that MPs appeared to speak favorably of Qatar in parliament after benefiting from the emirate’s grandeur. Professor David Roberts, a Gulf expert and defender at King’s College London, said: “The Qataris clearly feel they are buying something, a certain understanding or sympathy. “They would say it’s educating people on their side of the story and it’s not unreasonable to point out the improvements they’ve made.” But in practice, Qatar’s influence in the UK is based on much more than hospitality and gifts. The relationship has flourished thanks to multibillion-pound arms deals, royal friendships, vital gas imports and £40bn of Qatari investment in the UK, all contributing to a network of influence that reaches to the heart of government. Members of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family, including the current Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, were educated in the UK. Many others have made London their second home, creating unrivaled connections to the very top of the British social hierarchy. Earlier this year, the Sunday Times alleged that Qatar’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, had given the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, €3 million in charitable cash donations between 2011 and 2015 .from it to Fortnum & Mason bags. The Emir, Tamim Al Thani, was one of the few Gulf leaders to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. His cousin, the horse racing enthusiast Hamad bin Abdullah, was among an even more elite group at her committal at Windsor Castle. Fittingly, the militaries commanded by the sovereigns of both nations operate continuously under an arms supply agreement that dates back to 1996, the year after a bloodless coup that installed Qatar’s current line of succession. In September, the emir attended Dukhan Air Base as his air force took delivery of the first batch of 24 Eurofighter Typhoons, built in Lancashire and procured as part of a £5 billion deal with BAE Systems. Qatar also bought F-35s from the US and Dassault Rafale jets from France, spreading out its purchases in a move that may be more about international alliances than a coherent air power strategy, according to defense analyst Francis Tusa. “It doesn’t make sense to have three separate fighter jets running,” he said. “You can’t share simulators and they don’t have the same engines, so maintenance is completely different. “It’s a very political move. They have used the defense dollar to buy influence with Britain, France and the US.” So close is the UK-Qatar partnership in the skies that it has created two joint squadrons between the nations’ air forces, the first, according to the RAF Museum, since British pilots flew alongside counterparts from countries including France, Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1944. One of these, 12 Squadron, will patrol the skies above the stadiums during the World Cup, its pilots among 200 RAF personnel who will be deployed to the Gulf state during the World Cup as part of security mission called Project Thariyat. The roots of this military relationship go back 100 years. A British protectorate from 1916 to 1971, Qatar declared independence around the same time it discovered one of the world’s largest natural gas fields, shared with Iran. The former emir, Hamad bin Khalifa, and his prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, cleverly channeled this natural resource windfall into a sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), established in 2005. In just 17 years old, QIA has quickly become a $450 billion global investment powerhouse. Qatar’s formidable economic power, unleashed through the QIA as well as the personal wealth of its ruling elite, has been used not only to buy prestigious assets in London – such as Harrods and Claridge’s Hotel – but also to purchase military hardware. , which led to controversy in one case. In 1996, BAE Systems and Qatar signed a £500m arms deal, brokered by then Tory Defense Secretary Michael Portillo, which included the supply of Piranha armored vehicles. It later emerged that the deal involved the transfer of £7 million to two Jersey trusts, the beneficiary of which was Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, then foreign minister. The funds were frozen by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, which subsequently launched a court case and investigation. In 2002, the Guardian reported that HBJ had paid the Jersey authorities £6 million in “voluntary compensation” as “structures set up by its advisers may have contributed to the cost and complexity of the investigation”. Subscribe to Business Today Get ready for the business day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. The case was dropped and BAE and HBJ denied any wrongdoing. In the years that followed, Qatar’s relations with Tony Blair’s Britain improved, particularly after the emirate allowed its air bases to be used as staging posts for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, the relationship has focused on a different kind of security – energy. Qatar is a key source of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the alternative to pipeline supplies from Europe, which are under threat as Russia turns off the tap in a standoff over Ukraine. At times over the past decade, Qatar has supplied almost all of Britain’s LNG, a ship-borne form of super-refrigerant gas that accounts for about a fifth of the UK’s supply. The emirate’s share of UK LNG imports has fallen from 98% in 2012 but, amid soaring gas prices even before the war, Boris Johnson has asked for help from the emir in late 2021. The talks for “sustainable natural gas supplies” continued this year. In May, the two nations issued a joint communiqué saying Qatar planned to invest £10 billion in the UK. Johnson and Emiri continued to discuss the upcoming World Cup, for which former England captain David Beckham has controversially served as an ambassador. Military and energy alliances define the Qatar-UK relationship, but it has also flourished thanks to political connections. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Qatar has 14 MPs and Lords as members, and the group has made several trips to Doha on fact-finding missions. Earlier this year Alun Cairns became president of the APPG as a result of a vote which received votes from 91 MPs. The APPG previously declined to comment on reports that Qatar was keen to see him appointed as its chairman. Cairns said the group played an “active role in scrutinizing all aspects of UK-Qatar relations, including human rights, ethics, education, energy and infrastructure”. Questions have been raised about the presence of two businessmen on one of the group’s trips to Qatar. An Isle of Man-based hedge fund, Argo Capital Management, has been named as APPG’s secretariat, with Argo employee Jeremy Bradshaw listed as the group’s point of contact. A member of parliament, who spoke to Business Insider, said Bradshaw was present during the team’s visit to Qatar in 2021. Bradshaw did not respond to questions from the Guardian about his presence on the trip. Bradshaw once stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative candidate and is said to be a friend of Nigel Evans, deputy speaker of the House of Commons and honorary chairman of the Qatar APPG. He is also listed as a point of contact for China’s conservative caucus. Bradshaw told the Guardian he had since stepped down from his role at APPG. Another figure who reportedly arranged a meal with a Qatari official during the same trip is Dominic Armstrong, a corporate intelligence expert and co-founder of private military firm Aegis Defense Services. Armstrong attended a meeting in 2021 between Trade Secretary Lord Grimstone, Rolls-Royce and two members of Qatar’s ruling elite. It was one of six meetings Grimstone held with Qatari companies and representatives that year, culminating in the emirate making an £85m investment in Rolls-Royce’s plans to build a fleet of small nuclear reactors. Armstrong has previously confirmed that he acted as an adviser on the deal. Armstrong did not respond to requests for comment.
