WHO cares how many Yemeni civilians are slaughtered by the Saudi air force? Selling military hardware to Saudi Arabia is profitable.

Shorn of diplomatic niceties, that is the government’s justification for its close relationship with the medieval dictatorship in Riyadh.

Arms sales underpin the British-Saudi partnership, which is why the top face cards of Britain’s monarchy are wheeled out to welcome the blood-soaked crown prince of the house of Saud.