Boris Johnson will plead with Gulf states on Wednesday to open the oil taps in the hope of seeing off a devastating spike in prices stemming from Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
But the prime minister was forced to defend himself from accusations that, in his search for help to deal with one bloodthirsty dictator, he was running straight into the arms of another, whose “appalling” approach to human rights was laid bare by the 81 executions announced by Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
