[1] Relations between the two countries date back to 1848, when Faisal bin Turki, ruler of the Second Saudi state, formally requested the support of the British Political Resident in Bushire for his representative in Trucial Oman.

[6] Saudi Arabia opened its embassy in London in 1930, which was the country's second official foreign affairs body abroad and led by Hafiz Wahba.

'"[9] According to the Guardian, around £60 million was allegedly spent by BAE Systems on extravagant holidays, fleets of classic cars, shopping trips and escorts for Prince Turki bin Nasser Al Saud, who controlled the Royal Saudi Air Force.

[13] In 2006, the Saudis threatened to end co-operation with the UK unless the Serious Fraud Office dropped its investigation into BAE Systems over the Al-Yamamah arms deal.

No further action was taken against the company and nobody working for the British or Saudi governments or BAE Systems ever served prison time as a result of the allegations.

[19] Saudi Arabia was assisted by the armies of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Sudan and Egypt who have each committed between 3 and 30 fighter jets, as well as Jordan and Morocco, who confirmed their support, but the details of which remain unspecified.

[20][19] Between the start of the attack and December 2016, Britain licensed £3.3 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia despite protests from the public, politicians, media outlets and campaign groups.

The UK’s biggest arms company BAE Systems sold over £17 billion worth of equipment and services to the Saudi Arabian military since 2015.

However, British government ministers Liam Fox, Boris Johnson, Michael Fallon and Priti Patel released a statement saying they disagreed with the parliamentary committee's recommendations.

[34] At the June 2019 G20 Summit held in Osaka, Japan, UK Prime Minister Theresa May urged the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to collaborate with the United Nations to find a solution to the 4-year long conflict in Yemen.

[35] Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, claimed that the Prime Minister was not successful in signalling the UK government's disapproval of Saudi's role in Yemen war.

"[37] Jeremy Hunt's Conservative leadership campaign was partly funded by Ken Costa, investment banker with close ties to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince.

[40] In October 2023, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, British PM Rishi Sunak met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister encouraged bin Salman to leverage Saudi Arabia's leadership in the region to promote stability.

In January 2015, Prince Charles travelled to the Saudi capital Riyadh, as did a number of world leaders including Prime Minister David Cameron, to pay his respects following the death of the nation's King Abdullah.

The decision following the King's death to fly flags at half-mast on key public buildings in London drew sharp criticism from some prominent politicians who highlighted claims of Saudi Arabia's abuses of free speech, women's rights and the country's role as a cradle of Islamist extremism.

[49] Saudi Arabia is pushing to join the Global Combat Air Programme a multinational initiative led by the United Kingdom, Japan, and Italy to develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter, with tentative British and Italian support.

MPs on the foreign affairs committee also asked the government to "assess" the supply of weapons by Saudi Arabia to Syrian rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

The government was urged to try to "improve the monitoring of the funding flowing from Saudi Arabia to organisations with an extremist message", and to ensure that its "legitimate promotion of religious values does not inadvertently contribute to the furtherance of extremism."

The foreign affairs committee report noted: "Democratic governments such as the UK face a challenge in trying to reconcile their liberal constituencies at home with the need to maintain relationships with undemocratic and conservative regimes that are important to their interests on a regional and global level."

Another section asserted: We understand that to encourage a government such as that of Saudi Arabia towards reform, a combination of private and public pressure is required.

However, we are particularly concerned that some witnesses not only disagreed with UK policy but appeared to disbelieve the government's account of its private conversations with Saudi Arabia on reform.

The foreign affairs committee is giving cover to the UK government as it continues the policy of pandering to despicable regimes in its desire to drum up sales for [defence firm] BAE Systems."

In it, he accused Corbyn of disrespect and referred to the arrests and crucifixion sentences of pro-democracy activists and threats of lashing against a pensioner transporting wine in his car as "a number of domestic events in the Kingdom".

Between October 2015 and September 2016, the British government licensed at least £544 million worth of military exports to Saudi Arabia including components for bombs, machine guns and sniper rifles.

[65] On 12 November 2018, the UK Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt flew to Saudi Arabia to request Mohammad bin Salman's cooperation with the Turkish authorities into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

"[66] The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, during her 20-minute meeting with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, at the 2019 G20 Summit addressed the need for maintaining transparency in the Jamal Khashoggi murder legal process.