Boris Johnson's Saudi 'proxy wars' comment 'not UK's view'

Theresa May was the first woman to be invited to the Gulf Cooperation Council summit of leaders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain

Downing Street has said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's comments on Saudi Arabia do not represent "the government's position".

Footage has emerged from an event last week at which Mr Johnson said UK ally Saudi Arabia was engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East. The
PM's spokeswoman said these were the foreign secretary's personal views. She said a forthcoming visit to the region would give him a chance to set out the UK's position on Saudi Arabia.

Mr Johnson's comments were made at a conference in Rome last week but only emerged after the Guardian newspaper published footage of the event. In it the foreign secretary said: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives.

"That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region. And the tragedy for me - and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves."

Mr Johnson told the Med 2 conference: "There are not enough big characters, big people, men or women, who are willing to reach out beyond their Sunni or Shia or whatever group to the other side and bring people together and to develop a national story again. "That is what's lacking. And that's the tragedy," he said, adding that "visionary leadership" was needed in the region.

He went on: "That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars." The emergence of the comments would be "awkward if not embarrassing for the foreign secretary". "Once again Mr Johnson's use of language is causing headlines that his diplomats will need to explain," our correspondent said.

Downing Street's comment came as Prime Minister Theresa May returned from a visit to the Gulf where she had dinner with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. Her spokeswoman said that Mrs May wanted to strengthen the relationship with Saudi Arabia, saying, "we are supporting the Saudi-led coalition in support of the legitimate government in Yemen against Houthi rebels".

She said: "Those are the prime minister's views - the foreign secretary's views are not the government's position on, for example, Saudi Arabia and its role in the region." Robert Lacey, a historian and author of the Kingdom and the House of Saud, said that while he agreed with Mr Johnson's comments, he questioned whether he should be saying them about an ally. He said that he believed it was a gaffe and that Mr Johnson was acting more like a journalist.