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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Ben Glaze & Aletha Adu

Oil beggar Boris Johnson shakes hands with Saudi 'dictator' on day 3 men executed

Boris Johnson shook hands with Saudi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this afternoon on what marked the start of his oil begging trip to the Gulf.

The Prime Minister was on a mission to persuade oil-rich countries to open the taps and supply millions of extra oil barrels a day.

But he did not appear to have come away from talks with Saudi's Crown Prince with any new oil commitments.

Speaking in the capital Riyadh, the Prime Minister said they “talked about what we can do to stabilise oil prices, to fight inflation, to help consumers, to help people at the gas pumps, at the petrol pumps”.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has tipped a litre of unleaded over £1.60 - piling misery on British families already struggling with household bills.

Boris Johnson promised to raise human rights issues when meeting Gulf leaders for talks (ANDREW PARSONS/No10/UNPIXS (EUROPE))

Record breaking petrol prices continue to hammer motorists at the pumps.

Figures from the RAC show over 24 hours, unleaded rose by a penny to 164.98p a litre and diesel by more than 2p to 176p.

It means petrol has now soared by 13p since the start of the month and diesel by nearly 21p - the fastest rises on record.

He claimed there was a “lot of agreement that it's important to avoid inflation, to avoid the damaging economic consequences”.

But, asked if the Kingdom’s leader had taken a decision to boost supply, he said: “I think you need to talk to the Saudis about that.

“But there was an understanding of the need to ensure stability in the global oil markets and gas markets, and the need to avoid damaging price spikes.”

Boris Johnson poses at the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

When asked if he had raised concerns on their human rights record as three people were executed, the PM remained tight-lipped.

Mr Johnson said: "I always raise human rights issues as British PM before me have done time after time.

"It's best if the details of those conversations are kept private.

"It's most effective that way. Things are changing in Saudi Arabia.

"It's why we see value in engaging in Saudi Arabia. I expressed the longstanding view of the UK Government, as you would expect."

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