‘I’ll do you a good deal on a fighter jet’ David Cameron starts whistle stop tour of the Gulf to sell £6billion worth of British military aircraft


David Cameron arrived in the Gulf today, hoping to seal multi-billion pound deals to sell fighter jets to Arab states.

The Prime Minister arrived in Dubai this morning, at the start of a three-day tour of the Gulf and the Middle East. He insisted there was ‘no no-go areas’ in raising human rights concerns with leaders in the region, as he pushed for British industry to secure lucrative contracts.

He also insisted he would do 'everything we can' to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.



The Premier hopes to help cement deals worth more than £6billion for the sale of 100 aircraft to the region in the coming year, deals that together would be directly worth over £6 billion to British firms.

Mr Cameron hopes to persuade the United Arab Emirates military to buy 60 of BAE’s Typhoon fighter jets, as they seek to replace their current fleet of French Mirage jets.

To be replaced: Arab Emirate's Dassault Mirage 2000-9

Tomorrow he will travel to Saudi Arabia which is also considering adding to its own Typhoon force. It is Mr Cameron’s second to each country since becoming Prime Minister.

Downing Street insists the trip was part of a wider effort to build a ‘reinvigorated partnership’ between Britain and the region's leaders.

Speaking as he arrived in Dubai today, Mr Cameron insisted the need to sign contracts with his hosts would not deter him from raising difficult issues.

Some Gulf states are unhappy with the UK's support for Arab Spring uprisings elsewhere in the region with reports that it could lead to British firms being snubbed for future contracts.

Mr Cameron said: ‘On human rights, there are no no-go areas in this relationship. We discuss all of these things but we also show respect and friendship to a very old ally and partner.

‘We have one of the strictest regimes anywhere in the world for sales of defence equipment but we do believe that countries have a right to self-defence and we do believe that Britain has important defence industries that employ over 300,000 people so that sort of business is completely legitimate and right.'

Later he told students he was a 'supporter of the Arab Spring' amid tensions about the way some countries have sought to clampdown on dissent.

Mr Cameron said: 'The idea of moving towards more open societies and more open democracies is good for the Middle East and North Africa.'

But he also insisted it important to respect individual countries' journeys.

During a question and answer session with students at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, Mr Cameron gave a stark warning about the threat posed by Iran.

Tehran developing nuclear weapons would not only be a 'desperately bad development for our world' but could also 'trigger a nuclear arms race across the whole of the region,' he said.

'We should do everything we can to stop it happening.'

The Prime Minister, accompanied by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, was met at Al Minhad military airbase by UAE foreign minister Anwar Gargash and Major General Issa Saif Mohammed al Mazrouei, Deputy Chief of Staff of UAE armed forces.



They chatted to Typhoon crews at the base, which is used by the UK as a logistics hub for operations in Afghanistan and regional training, before joining some of the 70 British personnel stationed there for breakfast.



British exports to the UAE were up 16 per cent in the first half of the year and it was vital to be involved in the fastest-growing economies in the world to compete in the ‘global economic race’, Mr Cameron said.

‘It is not just about trade and investment. We are also partners in defence and security, we worked together in Libya and Afghanistan and we will be talking about all the key regional and global issues,’ the PM added.

Mr Cameron and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi will also attend a business event featuring more than a dozen British aerospace, healthcare and education firms.

As part of the visit, Mr Cameron will also take part in a question and answer session with university students in Abu Dhabi and meet with UK business leaders at an investment event.

On Wednesday, Mr Cameron will make a short visit to the Middle East before flying home for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Downing Street ahead of the crunch EU budget summit.

It means he will be out of the country when he learns whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney have won the bitterly contested US presidential race. He will also miss Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons.

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