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  Bahrain must be added to this list.....
  
  UK must do more to explain stance on Saudi Arabia, say MPs
  Campaigners claim whitewash after committee says there would be no advantage in stopping UK arms sales to kingdom
  
  David Cameron with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia last year.
  
  Britain is suffering from a "credibility problem" in claiming to be backing reform in Saudi Arabia, which is described by MPs as "one of the least democratic states in the world with a notoriously poor human rights record" in a report published on Friday.
  
  MPs on the foreign affairs committee are also asking the government to "assess" the supply of weapons by Saudi Arabia to Syrian rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. But they said there would be no advantage in stopping lucrative UK arms sales to the conservative kingdom - triggering immediate condemnation of a "whitewash" by campaigners.
  
  After a year-long investigation into Britain's relations with Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Bahrain, the all-party body says it is concerned about "limited but worrying evidence of a poor public perception of the UK in Saudi Arabia."
  
  The report will be closely scrutinized in both Gulf countries, but especially in oil-rich Saudi Arabia, whose ambassador to the UK warned of negative consequences for bilateral relations when the parliamentary enquiry was announced last year.
  
  The inquiry was launched against the background of the Arab Spring uprisings, the rise of Islamist forces and nervousness in the Gulf monarchies that the unrest would affect them. It took evidence from academics, businessmen, diplomats and defence sales officials.
  
  Saudi Arabia is Britain's biggest market in the Middle East and has an estimated £62bn invested in the UK. The UK has granted export licences for almost £4bn worth of defence equipment over the last five years. But the report found no "conclusive proof" that it has been used for internal repression, and said there would be "significant costs for the UK-Saudi relationship" by ending sales.

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