Bahrain's King Hamad with the Duke of Westminster on Sunday
1009 GMT: Bahrain Analyst Marc Owen Jones picks up on an interesting encounter in the capital Manama:
Yesterday King Hamad met with the Duke of Westminster, otherwise known as Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor. The two discussed Bahrain and Britain’s historic bilateral relationship and the need to "enhance it". There was also talk of ‘bolstering cooperation’ in all fields --- whatever that means....
Grosvenor is chairman of G3, a strategic advisory firm hired by Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority in 2011 to develop a ”media campaign to support Bahrain’s position in the international community”. What the contract involved was not quite clear, though Lt Gen Sir Graeme Lamb, who worked as a ‘special adviser’ to G3, wrote a number of pieces in various news outlets that focused on Britain’s important military relationship with Bahrain.
Clearly 1.5 million pounds will buy a lot more than some PR in the form of a few sketchy articles. Indeed, the fact King Hamad gets to meet with G3′s chairman suggests that Bahrain plumped for the company’s platinum package.