Boris Johnson's Saudi bromance

[AZProgressive]

LONDON — One is a former journalist leading a liberal democracy. The other is an authoritarian crown prince of an oppressive state that executes people and has zero tolerance for freedom of speech. Yet there’s a bizarre bromance going on between Boris Johnson and Mohammed bin Salman.

This week, Johnson headed to Saudi Arabia to beg the Gulf state to pump more oil in a bid to plug the looming gap caused by a Western reduction in Russian fuel imports. London, Washington and the European Union all announced plans to reduce imports of Russian energy to pile pressure on Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine.

But for Johnson, dealing with the crown prince — known as MBS — might be more pleasure than business. “The chemistry between them just works,” said Eddie Lister, a former long-serving aide to Johnson who himself dealt with the Gulf nations while working in Downing Street and has just become an unpaid non-executive director of the Saudi British Joint Business Council.

(Snip)

During a phone call some weeks ago, the pair sounded more like a pair of budding lovers than international statesmen. “I miss you,” one quipped. “I miss you more,” the other replied, according to the official.

https://www.politico.eu/article/bromance-uk-boris-johnson-saudi-arabia-prince-mohammed-bin-salman/

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Nothing bizarre about Johnson loving Mohammed Bone Saw

Johnson has no scruples about his 'friends'; they are whoever can benefit him.

As a veteran News of the World reporter, Stuart Collier spent much of his Fleet Street career exposing villains. But the only criminal he investigated who prompted a threat to him and his family’s safety was Boris Johnson’s close friend Darius Guppy.

Guppy’s secretly recorded plot in 1990 to have Johnson – then a young Daily Telegraph Brussels correspondent – supply him with Collier’s address so he could send over heavies to beat him up came to nothing.
...
Guppy ended up being jailed for staging a fake £1.8m jewellery heist – thought to be the subject of Collier’s inquiries. Some years later, the 69-year-old journalist left the NoW for a quieter existence in the Oxfordshire countryside, where he worked as a postman and Tesco delivery driver before retirement.
...
On the taped call, Guppy tells Johnson he wants to scare Collier by getting heavies to give him “a couple of black eyes” and a “cracked rib”. Appearing to indicate he is happy to help supply Collier’s address, Johnson is heard saying at the end of the call: “OK, Darry, I said I’ll do it. I’ll do it, don’t worry.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/14/black-eyes-boris-johnson-plot-attack-reporter-darius-guppy

[Emrys]

2. Which led to this infamous confrontation between Eddie Mair and Johnson way back in 2013:

Mair exposed and Johnson revealed everything Johnson's ever proven to be: a shifty, thick upper-crust thug hiding behind a P.G. Woodhousian veneer of waffling bluster.