I started doing some research over the weekend using the Hansard records of what our MPs think about Qatar, and how they describe the UK relationship with the country.
The UK government (under both Conservative and Labour administrations) has spent decades cultivating Qatar as a "strategic partner," especially after the financial crisis when Qatari money started propping up everything from Barclays to Harrods. That financial dependency, combined with Qatari investments in critical UK infrastructure (like gas and property), creates a situation where serious scrutiny of Qatar’s darker influences becomes politically inconvenient (its media manipulation, influence operations, and soft power strategies).
The UK officially treats terrorism financing as a critical national security issue, yet Qatar has a long and documented history of enabling the flow of funds to groups like Hamas and the Taliban. If the UK was serious about cracking down, Qatar would be under much closer scrutiny, but it's not, because geopolitics (and investment flows) get in the way.
MPs love to talk about human rights when it’s politically safe (Russia, Iran), but with Qatar they perform these rhetorical gymnastics, praising "progress" while ignoring how that "progress" is often cosmetic and designed for Western consumption (like the token labour reforms the did ahead of the World Cup). Qatar has deeply embedded itself into British political, cultural, and educational life. From funding chairs at prestigious universities to sponsoring events at the Foreign Office, Qatar has bought itself a protective layer of goodwill. This compromises the objectivity of any parliamentary scrutiny.
This really needs comprehensive research, on the scale of what the Henry Jackson Society did on regards to BBC bias. There are better writers than me out there, I hope someone else has the energy and time to make this happen.
I started doing some research over the weekend using the Hansard records of what our MPs think about Qatar, and how they describe the UK relationship with the country.
The UK government (under both Conservative and Labour administrations) has spent decades cultivating Qatar as a "strategic partner," especially after the financial crisis when Qatari money started propping up everything from Barclays to Harrods. That financial dependency, combined with Qatari investments in critical UK infrastructure (like gas and property), creates a situation where serious scrutiny of Qatar’s darker influences becomes politically inconvenient (its media manipulation, influence operations, and soft power strategies).
The UK officially treats terrorism financing as a critical national security issue, yet Qatar has a long and documented history of enabling the flow of funds to groups like Hamas and the Taliban. If the UK was serious about cracking down, Qatar would be under much closer scrutiny, but it's not, because geopolitics (and investment flows) get in the way.
MPs love to talk about human rights when it’s politically safe (Russia, Iran), but with Qatar they perform these rhetorical gymnastics, praising "progress" while ignoring how that "progress" is often cosmetic and designed for Western consumption (like the token labour reforms the did ahead of the World Cup). Qatar has deeply embedded itself into British political, cultural, and educational life. From funding chairs at prestigious universities to sponsoring events at the Foreign Office, Qatar has bought itself a protective layer of goodwill. This compromises the objectivity of any parliamentary scrutiny.
This really needs comprehensive research, on the scale of what the Henry Jackson Society did on regards to BBC bias. There are better writers than me out there, I hope someone else has the energy and time to make this happen.