..and of course, £1 million for you, Your Highness!

The British Serious Fraud Office has just dropped an investigation into the dealings of British Aerospace in relation to the contract with Saudi Arabia for arms and aircraft dating back 20 years. The basis of the investigation has been an accusation that BAE (as it is now called) managed a 'slush' fund with which they greased the palm of Prince Turki Bin Nasser, a prominent member of the Saudi Royal Family to procure arms agreements worth billions of pounds to the British economy and to employment prospects.



The decision has been met with howls of protest from some opposition M.P.s and accusations of pressure from the Blair Government to get the investigation halted once Saudi Arabia had threatened to pull out of a new deal with Britain for a fleet of Eurofighters worth £60 billion.



Now I am all in favour of ethical politics but seriously...if we are going to do business with regimes like the Saudis who have more money than they know what to do with then frankly you play by their rules..within reason i.e. short of murdering someone.

When you have an autocratic mediaeval monarchy, a culture in which a man is lauded for his wealth, his possessions and how much he can demand in tithes from those with whom he does business, what on earth is the point of sticking your political head in the sand and pretending that you can do business according to western fiscal standards? It is a pipe dream!

I am not in the least surprised that BAE had a £60 million slush fund. Had they not then deals worth billions would have been lost to countries who were less morally scrupulous than Britain has, apparently, attempted to be. Do I approve of it? On principle no of course not. Do I think it's worth while greasing the palm of these autocratic despots if it means 3000 workers in Bristol keep their jobs? You bet your sweet 'a' I do!