Don’t expect the UK government to speak up about human rights in Qatar before the World Cup

Trade between the UK and Qatar is worth around £5bn annually and ties are growing ever closer, writes David Harding

The construction site of the Al Bayt Stadium, and the workers’ accommodation, in Doha, Qatar, from 2017 (Bongarts/Getty)

Now the qualification is over, the protests can begin.

With England definitely going to next year’s Qatar World Cup, and Scotland and Wales possibly following, the calls for action against the Gulf state and its dire human rights record have begun. Britian’s government is unlikely to join in.

Trade between the UK and Qatar is worth around £5bn annually and ties are growing ever closer. Earlier this month, Britain approached Qatar for a long-term gas deal – Qatar is a gas superpower – and Doha is so important to Britain’s energy security that a former government adviser once said if anything bad happened to Qatar, Britain “would be up s*** creek, we really would”.

Qatar’s presence in Britain is not only in Harrods and the Shard but on every high street with a stake in Sainsbury’s. Total Qatari investment in the UK is worth over £40bn. Its ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani is a Sandhurst graduate. The Qatari organising the World Cup, Hassan al-Thawadi, is a University of Sheffield graduate who supports Liverpool.

Specifically for the World Cup, Britain’s involvement is high. Government figures in 2018 said Britain had secured World Cup 2022 deals worth £1.5bn. That figure is now much higher.

Britain will provide air security in Qatar during the World Cup with a Joint Operation Squadron of pilots from the two countries. In 2018, Doha paid some £5bn for 24 Typhoon jets from the UK, which will be used by the squadron.

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Lusail Stadium, the gold-coloured venue which will host next year’s World Cup final, was designed by Britain’s Foster + Partners. Dame Zaha Hadid designed the Al Janoub venue.

Qatar’s diplomatic standing in the west has been boosted by its role in the fallout from the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and post-Brexit Britain’s need for more trade outside Europe means, more than ever, it needs to get contracts with Qatar.

Gareth Southgate and England’s players – and potentially Scotland and Wales – will now be asked for their views about human rights in Qatar. Government ministers are likely to keep quiet.

Yours,

David Harding

International editor