Confident smiles for the press, but UK-Gulf relations reflect a degree of needy desperation on both sides

Theresa May became the first British prime minister (and, according to her office, the first woman) to attend a Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) Summit, during a two-day trip to Bahrain in early December. The briefing from London was that she was seeking to “open a new chapter” in relations with the Arab Gulf states, which collectively form the UK’s third largest export market. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson took the same journey a few days later to take part in the Manama Dialogue, fresh from his use of characteristically undiplomatic language at a gathering in Rome, where he accused Saudi Arabia of being a “puppeteer” engaging in “proxy wars”