MPs slam Government over Bahrain
Ministers have been accused of inconsistency over human rights, after refusing to back a boycott of the Bahrain Grand Prix despite implementing their own boycott of the Euro 2012 football championships in Ukraine.
The Foreign Affairs Committee said Bahrain should be included on the Foreign Office's list of "countries of concern" in the wake of the "brutal" suppression of democracy protests last year, and expressed concerns that "political and strategic factors" had played a part in the Government's approach to the Gulf kingdom.
Committee chair Richard Ottaway told the Today programme the report was not being "high-minded", but instead was calling for "some sort of consistency" from the Government.
"It’s a question of how to balance the conflicting judgements that we have to make about strategic and commercial decisions against human rights on the other hand. And that is a difficult judgement, but we do urge the Government to be more open, more public, and more transparent."