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PANORAMA 'DOES A HATCHET JOB' ON SAUDI DEAL SAYS RAF HERO
Daily Express

"The OECD making a fuss about investigations is rather farcical when you find out that it is France that’s leading the campaign to blacken Britain’s name – and win all the deals for Matra and Dassault, makers of Mirage fighter jets.

“The Saudis bought a cracking aircraft in the British Tornado and the Hawk trainer is second to none. Of course Bandar would have given his opinion. After all he could have flown the damned things if he’d wanted to. France has been out in the cold for a long time. They tried to block the military operation to rid Iraq of Saddam.

“Meanwhile they were busy building a French car manufacturing plant in Iran.

“Let’s face it, the French have always been opportunistic when it comes to weapons deals. Maybe their military industry is flat on its face.

“But we took enough French-built Exocets during the Falklands for me not to feel too sorry for them.”

The Daily Express has been told by a senior diplomatic source that the former French Prime Prime Minister, Dominique du Villepin – he famously attacked Britain and the US at the UN for proposed involvement in the second Gulf War – was heavily motivated in his outburst by the fact that the French could not field an operational aircraft carrier.

The RAF source said: “The Clemenceau, their flagship, had been in dry dock for over a year and their military contribution would have been seriously undermined and derided had they not had their military shop window in operation.